PM leaves for Pretoria tomorrow to attend 5th IBSA summit

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will leave for Pretoria tomorrow to attend the fifth India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) summit on October 18 which will deliberate on issues like reforms in the United Nations Security Council, sustainable
development and other challenges confronting the global economy.
In a statement on the eve of departure to South Africa, the Prime Minister said the IBSA summit, being hosted by President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria on October 18, is expected to focus, among other things, on coordination among IBSA countries in United Nations Security Council, sustainable development, the forthcoming meetings of the Conference of Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol being hosted by South Africa later this year, the Rio+20 Conference being hosted by Brazil in 2012 and other matters related to deepening of cooperation under IBSA. External Affairs Ministry officials say that during his visit to Pretoria, the Prime Minister will be accompanied by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, and his Principal Secretary Pulok Chatterjee. One of the important issues which will naturally figure in the summit would be the current global financial situation. “Everyone agrees that the situation is not as easy as it was and it is fairly complicated and difficult,” Ministry officials