DIRCO Annual Report

3. ACHIEVEMENT OF INSTITUTIONAL IMPACTS AND OUTCOMES A department committed to the excellent execution of South Africa’s foreign policy, placing South Africa as an influential actor and partner on the international stage while effectively contributing to the delivery of the country’s domestic priorities and advancement of the African Agenda. Programme1: Outcome: A modern, effective department, with capable and skilled employees, that is committed to the excellent execution of South Africa’s foreign policy The department, through the Diplomatic Academy, continued to contribute to the priority of creating a better Africa and a better world, through the implementation of training programmes that assist not only DIRCO officials to strengthen their knowledge and skills set, but also to other government officials, both from South Africa, and other officials from the continent. The Diplomatic Academy and International School managed to offer quality training programmes in line with International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) quality management standards, ensuring that it maintained its commitment to become a centre of excellence. In addition, through the continuation of formalising and implementing partnership agreements with reputable stakeholders, the Academy maintained its ability to deliver programmes that capacitate South Africa’s diplomats to effectively contribute to the delivery of the country’s domestic priorities, as well as the advancement of the African Agenda. In terms of language proficiencies, the Diplomatic Academy supported the linguistic development of our Foreign Service officials, through the implementation of the “One Official One Language Approach”, delivering a number of African Union (AU) United Nations (UN) language programmes. This was done by migrating its training delivery from contact to online training courses. In line with the approved Digital Strategy, the department is in the process to develop identified systems to improve operations’ efficiencies and effectiveness. Through the development of the identified systems, the department is on target to achieve its five-year target to automate

business processes. The MS Teams platform was adopted to enable remote working during COVID-19. An in-depth infrastructure assessment was also conducted. Programme 2: Leveraged bilateral, political, economic and social relations to achieve the objectives of the National Development Plan (NDP) and the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) priorities South Africa and its missions continued to utilise its bilateral economic relations, albeit in a limited and novel way, and focussed its political work to contribute to the priorities of the NDP and MTSF. Structured bilateral mechanisms (SBMs) and high-level visits continued to be utilised as a strategic platform and tool to advance and promote bilateral relations and cooperation with partner countries. These were mostly held virtually, due to the pandemic. During 2020, DIRCO launched a review process of the SBMs with the aim of determining their effectiveness and relevance and also introduced the concept of country strategies, the aim of which is to focus South Africa’s engagement with our political partners to ensure that these relations contribute towards the achievement of the objectives of the NDP and MTSF. Increased foreign direct investment and contributed to economic growth in South Africa Economic relations were promoted, albeit in a limited way compared to previous years, through activities such as the hosting of virtual business seminars and engagements with potential high-level investors and importers. The identification of mutually beneficial investment and business opportunities led to the strengthening of bilateral relations. Several countries made announcements of new investments during the President’s 2020 Investment Conference. South African missions are also following up where applicable with the companies that made pledges. Missions have also created their own investor databases for their investment promotion work. Increased regional integration Through participation in the relevant Southern African Development Community (SADC) structures, South Africa contributed towards regional initiatives geared towards peace,

Department of International Relations and Cooperation

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