President Rousseff in First Visit to Africa: Daily

By Ben Tavener, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff is in Pretoria, South Africa, on her first visit to Africa to attend the 5th trilateral IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) Summit, before moving on to Mozambique and Angola. Whilst in South Africa she will meet South African President Jacob Zuma (recent member of BRICS block) and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the impact of the global economic crisis, security, and the challenges facing developing countries.

Coming less than a month before the G20 summit in France, the three nations are also expected to discuss reform at the United Nations, each wanting a permanent seat on the Security Council there (alongside China, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom and France).

The countries’ foreign ministers will also meet to discuss subjects ranging from trade – which increased fourfold between the three leading emerging economies between 2003 and 2010 – to women and children’s rights.

Since 2004 the countries have been working together in the fight against hunger and poverty, as well as inequality and social exclusion, through the IBSA Fund to which each country contributes US$1 million annually.

Read more (in Portuguese).

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