Multilateral Engagement: Priorities for Australia and South Africa
South African Institute for International Affairs, Pretoria
Speech, E&OE , (check against delivery)
26 January 2010
Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for that kind introduction.
I’m delighted to be addressing the members of this distinguished Institute (South Africa Institute for International Affairs), which plays a key role in stimulating informed debate about international affairs and South Africa’s place in the world.
Australia has been a strong supporter of the Institute, contributing some $2 million in funding since 2005.
This is my second visit to Africa as Minister for Foreign Affairs.
It is the first visit by an Australian Foreign Minister to South Africa in more than seven years, a period of neglect which should never be repeated.
I am especially pleased to be here in South Africa in 2010, the year of the World Cup, the holding of which is a triumph for South Africa.
We look forward to the tournament being a great success for South Africa and for Africa as a whole.
So far over 31,000 tickets have been applied for by Australians. We hope this influx of Australians will spur greater people to people links as well as commercial links, including through Business Club Australia.
Australia is itself bidding for the right to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022.
As I said to my counterpart, Foreign Minister Nkoana-Mashabane, this morning Australia and South Africa need to work hard to reinvigorate high-level political engagement.
A stronger bilateral relationship is clearly in our mutual interests.
We need to build on our recent Ministerial contacts and the excellent working relationship developed between Prime Minister Rudd and President Zuma.
We have a range of common interests and a strong economic relationship.
We work closely together on issues such as agricultural liberalisation in the WTO and IMF reform in the G20.
Trade and investment are pillars of the relationship.
South Africa is by far Australia’s largest and most dynamic market in Africa, with trade growing an average of 7 per cent over the past five years.
In 2008-09 two-way trade, including goods and services, was more than 4 billion Australian dollars, or 28 billion rand.
Australia is also an important export market for South Africa, with most of your exports to Australia being motor vehicles.
South Africa exports more to Australia than it does to any country in the Middle East or Southeast Asia, including countries such as Brazil and Canada.
We also have a strong two-way relationship in investment, particularly in the minerals resources sector.
The BHP Billiton merger in 2001 and the Woolworths South Africa – Country Road partnership are good examples, but there are numerous others.
As a Western Australian, I am struck by the similarities of our two economies, particularly the importance of our respective agriculture sectors and our minerals and petroleum resources industries.
Our people-to-people links are also strong.
We are great competitors in sports such as cricket, rugby and football. This competition is fierce and ongoing but the linkages built between our countries are enduring.
Our cultural links are also important.
Australia and South Africa have recently concluded negotiations on a bilateral film co-production agreement.
Australia is a country of migration and a proud and tolerant multicultural society.
Australia is home to a significant South African-born community many of whom migrated in the decades prior to the end of apartheid.
Over 25,000 now live in my home state of Western Australia.
This community is an asset to both our countries and a means to broaden and deepen our social, cultural and economic engagement.
Reflecting these strong interests and common linkages, I am pleased that Minister Nkoana-Mashabane and I agreed today to launch an Australia-South Africa Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue to advance our common interests and regularly review progress in the bilateral relationship.
Australia is committed to broadening and deepening its engagement with Africa more broadly.
In January 2009 in Addis Ababa, I was the first Australian Foreign Minister to address a meeting of the African Union Foreign Ministers’ summit. Yesterday, I was the first Australian Foreign Minister to visit the Southern African Development Community (SADC) headquarters in Gaborone.
Last year, the Foreign Ministers of five African countries, Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda and Tanzania visited Australia as guests of the Australian Government.
That represented more such visits in one year than the previous ten years combined.
For too long Australia did not give Africa the priority it required and deserved.
This Australian Government, however, is deeply committed to enhanced engagement with the countries and regional institutions of Africa.
The need for Australia to engage much more substantially with Africa is driven by our economic interests and our strategic interests.
Australia is a country of 20 million people; Africa a continent of nearly a billion people.
To survive as a prosperous nation into the future, economically and politically, we can not ignore a continent of nearly a billion people made up of more than 50 countries.
A strengthened partnership with our closest economic partner in Africa, South Africa, is a central part of this endeavour.
My central message today is that Australia wants to work even more closely with South Africa to shape effective global responses to the challenges of the 21st century.
I strongly believe it is in both our own long-term national interests to be doing more together, regionally and internationally.
Priority on Multilateralism
Our partnership has both depth and breadth, for the reasons I have outlined.
In my view, though, it has yet to reach its full potential.
By working more closely together in the multilateral arena Australia and South Africa can do more to help shape responses to global challenges.
Because of the values we have in common, because we are both Southern Hemisphere countries with strong multilateralist credentials, together we have the capacity to bridge the divides that all too often hinder effective multilateral diplomacy.
As good international citizens, Australia and South Africa share a fundamental commitment to multiculturalism, good governance and democracy.
We both attach great importance to the UN Charter on Human Rights and support the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Because of our pasts, we know the dangers and damage of racism and we are willing to work together to end it.
Australia is proud of its record of pressing directly, and through international bodies, for an end to apartheid in South Africa.
Successive Australian governments in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s made that principled commitment. Importantly, they had the unwavering support of the broader Australian community, including from our trade union movement.
Regional and multilateral institutions – including the G20, the Cairns Group, the Commonwealth, and the United Nations – are essential for nations like ours.
Like South Africa, Australia benefits immensely from a global and regional order based on principles, norms and rules which regulate relations between states.
That is why when the current Australian Government came into office in 2007 we made strengthening multilateral diplomacy, including reinvigorated engagement with the United Nations, one of the three pillars of our foreign policy approach.
The United Nations
Australia shares with South Africa a firm belief that the work we can do in the multilateral system is increasingly important.
The challenges facing the world in the 21st century are complex and they are global.
Climate change, poverty, terrorism, transnational crime, health pandemics and the global economic crisis, for example, are challenges that no single country can address on its own.
Nor can these problems be solved by the permanent five members of the Security Council on their own.
Acceptance of that has created opportunities for countries like South Africa and Australia to play a more prominent role in global policy making.
Australia is committed to increasing its engagement with the UN. This is based on our long history of contributions to the UN and our confidence in its future.
Australia was among the most forthright and influential of the UN’s founding nations, and is a vocal advocate of the interests of small and medium sized nations.
Australia and South Africa agree that the United Nations needs reform to be more effective.
We believe the UN Security Council needs to better reflect the modern world and the emerging realities of global power and influence, including appropriate permanent African representation.
Australia is seeking election to the Security Council as a non-permanent member for the 2013-14 term.
Australia has much to contribute to the Security Council. We bring unique perspectives, creativity, energy, a practical problem-solving ethos and a proud history in peacekeeping.
In our discussions earlier today, Foreign Minister NkoanaMashabane and I discussed South Africa’s recent term on the Security Council. We also canvassed promising areas for multilateral cooperation.
I will elaborate on some of those key areas.
Peacekeeping and Security
I’ll start with peacekeeping and security.
Peacekeeping remains a vital and enduring element in Australia’s contributions to peace and security, and is one of the bedrocks of Australia’s engagement with the United Nations.
Australia was arguably the first country to have personnel on the ground in any modern peacekeeping operation, monitoring the observance of the ceasefire between Dutch and Indonesian forces in Indonesia in 1947.
Australia's national contribution to the United Nations' peacekeeping budget is the 12th largest of UN member states. Australia supports the efforts of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to strengthen the UN peacekeeping system.
But these days, peacekeeping is no longer the exclusive domain of the United Nations.
Non-UN-led peacekeeping operations are now commonly undertaken by other multinational or regional groupings.
In our own neighbourhood, Australia has played a leading role in successful regional missions in the Solomon Islands, East Timor and Bougainville.
Australia is sharing our wealth of peacekeeping experience with our African partners.
Australia is co-sponsoring, together with the African Union, a symposium on peacekeeping challenges to be held in Addis Ababa in March.
This will bring together around 120 participants from across Africa to focus on the protection of civilians.
We are also providing technical assistance to African countries aimed at strengthening African law enforcement agencies and legal institutions, including support to strengthen forensic investigation capacities and anti-money laundering activities.
Australia is also committed to assisting partner governments maintain peace and security over the longer term.
We have a long tradition of assisting governments prevent conflict and promote peace in unstable environments in our region.
Our election to the UN Peace Building Commission, of which South Africa is also a member, is a clear demonstration of our commitment to do this through the UN system.
We look forward to utilising our expertise and experience to focus on the Commission’s peace building efforts in its priority countries Burundi, Central African Republic, Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone.
Today I announce that Australia will contribute $6 million over the next two years to peace building efforts in the UN system.
$4 million will be provided over three years to the UN Peacebuilding Fund and $2 million to support peacebuilding initiatives identified by the Peace Building Commission, focusing on Burundi and Sierra Leone.
Millennium Development Goals
Australia has a long-standing and effective bilateral development assistance program with South Africa that focuses on support for capacity-building and skills development.
In conjunction with the Office of the Deputy President, for example, Australia is offering an increased number of postgraduate awards that are aimed at the skills development priorities of the South African Government.
In terms of our broader regional strategy, I announced recently that the Government would commit over $160 million in development assistance to Africa in 2009-10, an increase of more than 40 per cent from the previous year.
Our assistance deliberately focuses on areas where Australia is best able to make a difference.
This includes assisting African countries reach their Millennium Development Goals, particularly in the areas of food security, water and sanitation and child and maternal health.
Australia has also announced an expanded scholarships program in Africa, offering up to 1000 awards per year by 2012-13.
This is a ten-fold increase from the previous 100 awards a year.
We have also created an Australia-Africa Partnership Facility to ensure that we can respond flexibly to niche areas that African countries have identified as critical constraints.
This will enable countries to access Australian expertise in areas such as mining and natural resource management, trade policy, and governance.
Food security, which is central to eradicating extreme poverty and hunger in Africa, is an area where Australia and South Africa are already beginning to work together effectively.
Australia’s Food Security through Rural Development initiative is providing $100 million over four years to support Africa’s own efforts to increase food security.
Under that initiative, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research will work with the South African Agricultural Research Council to build agricultural research capacity in Africa, including in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique.
The Global Economic Crisis
The challenges facing the global economy have also emphasised the value of multilateral cooperation.
The global economic crisis had a substantial impact on Australia and South Africa, but the economic outlook in 2010 is improving.
The G20 in particular deserves credit for helping to stabilise the global economy.
The establishment of the G20 as a new, permanent global grouping reflects new international realities.
Australia was pleased with the outcomes of both the G20 Pittsburgh Summit and the St. Andrews G20 Finance Ministers’ Meeting.
We have been working closely with South Africa in G20 meetings at all levels, including as co-chairs of the G20 International Monetary Fund reform working group.
Prime Minister Rudd made special note of President Zuma’s support in securing successful outcomes at the Pittsburgh G20 Summit in his post-summit media address.
A risk exists that the G20's forward momentum could falter as the sense of urgency surrounding the global economic crisis eases.
We therefore need to ensure the G20’s agenda for 2010 is squarely on practical implementation, particularly the reform of the IMF and the World Bank, the coordination of exit strategies and the Framework for Sustainable Growth.
Australia looks forward to working closely with South Africa on those priorities.
Climate Change and the Environment
Let me make some remarks about Climate Change and the environment.
Australia welcomes the important role that South Africa played in developing the Copenhagen Accord, which provides a step forward in climate change action.
Australia also welcomes South Africa’s leadership in committing to robust emissions reductions.
Australia and South Africa are founding members of the Global Institute for Carbon Capture and Storage.
We recognise the importance of developing new technologies to make our businesses cleaner and more efficient, given both of our energy sectors are reliant on coal and both of our countries are vulnerable to the potential impacts of climate change.
Africa’s vulnerability to climate change is exacerbated by its relatively limited access to technology and economic resources.
South Africa’s role in developing the Southern African Development Community Climate Change Plan of Action will be important in guiding African strategies to address climate change.
Today I announce that Australia will contribute $500,000 to support South Africa in fulfilling this important role.
This will draw on Australian expertise and further our collaboration on climate change issues.
Australian technical experts will also assist the South African Department of Science and Technology and the UN Industrial Development Organisation in developing a training program.
Disarmament and Non-Proliferation
Our two nations also share a commitment to the goal of a nuclear weapon-free world. We both have strong credentials in this field.
Australia congratulates South Africa on the entry into force of the Treaty of Pelindaba – the Africa Nuclear Weapons Free Zone.
Australia also appreciates the contributions of the South African Commissioner, Dr Frene Ginwala, to the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament.
Gareth Evans, the Commission’s co-chair, was in South Africa last November to brief the South African Government on the work of the Commission.
The Commission’s work is helping to reinvigorate global efforts to promote nuclear disarmament and prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the lead-up to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference later this year.
We are working together at a government to government level to ensure a successful NPT Review Conference.
That entails holding nuclear weapon states to their disarmament commitments and ensuring the treaty’s capacity to continue to prevent the further spread of nuclear weapons.
We should also consider working together on strengthening nuclear safeguards, export controls and security in Africa, given this region is likely to become a major source of uranium for the international civil nuclear energy market in coming years.
Zimbabwe
Finally, I want to speak about the grave situation in Zimbabwe.
Australia welcomes the constructive role of Zimbabwe’s neighbours through SADC.
SADC, with President Zuma as its facilitator, and the African Union, have critical ongoing roles to play in overseeing the Global Political Agreement.
The Australian Government supports Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his Ministers in the rebuilding of Zimbabwe.
Australia has been at the forefront of international efforts to assist Zimbabwe, and we are keen to step up trilateral cooperation in support of recovery efforts in Zimbabwe.
Since the establishment of the Inclusive Government, Australia has provided more than $33 million in assistance to Zimbabwe, including $5 million in funding through the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund.
I announce today a further commitment of up to $6 million in additional funding to cooperate with South Africa in supporting the recovery of the Zimbabwe economy and basic services.
Funding will support collaboration between the South Africa and Zimbabwe taxation authorities to build Zimbabwe’s taxation administration.
It will also mobilise South African technical expertise to support recovery efforts in water, agriculture and economic governance.
Zimbabwe’s needs, by any measure, are enormous.
The Australian Government, like South Africa’s, is under no illusions about the political risks in Zimbabwe.
By working together, we can help that devastated country rebuild and secure a brighter future.
Conclusion
Many of the most imposing problems facing the world today are complex and they are global, and lasting solutions can only be found through coordinated regional and global action.
With our shared commitment to multilateralism, Australia and South Africa have important roles to play in shaping genuinely global solutions to those problems, and in addressing economic, political and security challenges in our own regions.
We have much to offer each other and much to gain through closer cooperation.
After my conversations today with Foreign Minister Nkoana-Mashabane and Deputy President Motlanthe, I can say with confidence that this view is shared on both sides of the Indian Ocean.
I look forward to working more closely with my counterparts in South Africa in the years ahead to strengthen our partnership even further.
Thank you.
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