IBSA officials meeting begins

New Delhi, July 13 (UNI) Officials of India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) began discussions here today to prepare ground for the Fourth Trilateral Commission Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the three countries.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will chair the Plenary Session of the Meeting on July 17. The Plenary will also be addressed by Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

The IBSA Foreign Ministers will hold discussions, preparatory to the IBSA Heads of State and Government Summit to be held in South Africa in October on how to deepen South-South dialogue and co-operation within IBSA.

They will also deliberate on achievements and failures in cooperation among IBSA countries in areas including information technology, information and skills transfers, social development, poverty alleviation and job creation.

A senior official of the External Affairs Ministry said the Foreign Ministerial Summit would also evaluate projects implemented through the IBSA Trust Fund, consider new proposals and evaluate the progress within the 14 working groups of IBSA.

The working groups are on trade, information society, science and technology, transport, energy, health, tourism, agriculture, education, culture, defence, social development, public administration and climate change.

The five-day meeting of the IBSA officials today began a day after the Union Cabinet approved the draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the three IBSA countries on mutual cooperation in public administration and governance.

This would provide a legal framework to the cooperation among the three countries in these fields.

''The activities among the three countries will start after they sign the MoU in the second half of the current year,'' Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said after the meeting of the Union Cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

UNI