PM leaves for New Delhi after attending IBSA Summit

Pretoria: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today left for New Delhi after a three-day visit to South Africa during which he attended the 5th IBSA Summit here.

At the one-day Summit, Dr Manmohan Singh, South African President Jacob Zuma and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, addressed important issues like the reforms needed in the United Nations Security Council, climate change, global security, economic recession and food and energy security. It also addressed the issues of global terrorism and organised crime besides bilateral and internal issues of mutual interest. On the sidelines of the Summit, the Prime Minister held bilateral meetings with South African and Brazilian Presidents in which he discussed promotion of trade and other issues beneficial to each other. They also deliberated on the united stand to be taken at international fora like G-20 and World Trade Organisation. During the Summit, the Prime Minister was assisted by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who had come to Pretoria in advance for the Ministers level meetings prior to IBSA Summit. The ‘Tshwane Declaration'(Pretoria Declaration) adopted at the Summit had asked the IBSA members to support each other for the permanent seat in the UNSC of which India, South Africa and Brazil are non-permanent members.