Pretoria - International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane will undertake a visit to Thailand this weekend to attend the UN Climate Change Conference.
The minister is the current President of the 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). South Africa hosted the successful COP17 conference in Durban at the end of 2011 and will continue to serve as President until the next Conference, to be hosted in Qatar later this year.
Following the conference in Bangkok, Nkoana-Mashabane will pay a courtesy call on the Prime Minister of Thailand, Yingluck Shinawatra, and hold bilateral talks with her Thai counterpart, Dr Surapong Towichukchaikul.
According to the Department of International Relations, during their bilateral meeting, the two ministers will review the scope of relations between South Africa and Thailand and identify possible further areas of cooperation in order to deepen and strengthen bilateral relations.
"They will also use the opportunity to brief each other on regional developments and discuss international multilateral issues of mutual interest," it said.
The minister will then undertake a one-day working visit to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar - the first visit by a South African government minister to that country.
"The objective of the visit is to join the international community in welcoming the democratisation process and political reform in Myanmar. Minister Nkoana-Mashabane will use the occasion to express the South African government's support for a peaceful, prosperous and democratic Myanmar as that country continues to address its positive political transformation in an inclusive manner," said the department.
