Hon Speaker and hon members, Prof Turok, yes, I am aware of the High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. Invitations were extended to government by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Pretoria in June this year.
As members may be aware, the Africa Platform for Development Effectiveness, APDev, was officially launched during the African Union Economic Commission for Africa Joint Annual Meetings of Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 27 March this year.
Though the Minister of Finance was unable to attend the launch, in his response to the invitation he expressed the South African government's support for multistakeholder dialogue that promotes a unified message for Africa to grow out of aid, enhance domestic resource mobilisation, deepen ownership and promote South-South co-operation.
Government intends to inform the public of its support for this initiative through the communication channels that are managed by the Government Communication and Information System, GCIS. The South African government will be represented in Busan by a high-level delegation. Furthermore, the invitation from the Korean Embassy also requests that Members of Parliament and representatives from civil society be included in the South African delegation.