Hon House Chair, I rise to beseech this august House to support and vote in favour of the budget of the Department of International Relations and Co-operation. As a committee, we met with the department and, after their presentation and a constructive engagement, we endorsed their report.
With this budget the department is building a strong Africa and deepens its agenda, and that is the centrepiece of our foreign policy. South Africa is now not only an active, respected and responsible global citizen, but also a body of reasoned opinion. Our country is host to the second largest number of foreign representations in the world, with a global footprint of 125 missions abroad, plus Gaza, covering 180 countries.
In the course of 2014, this department will focus on efforts to strengthen the African Union Commission and the development of Agenda 2063, and we will intensify this implementation programme contained in the programme on infrastructure development in Africa. During this financial year the department will table a foreign service Bill, which will create a single foreign service for the Republic of South Africa and enhance its operational capacity in this ever-changing and dynamic global firmament.
Lastly, this department was a premier adviser to our hon President before he could endorse the New Development Bank, which is an alterative to the prescriptive conditionalities that the IMF and the World Bank used to impose. Thank you. [Applause.]
Vote agreed to (Economic Freedom Fighters dissenting).
Vote 6 - Performance Monitoring and Evaluation - put.
Declarations of vote: