DIRCO Annual Report

4.2 Programme 2: International Relations

bilateral relations and cooperation with partner countries. They are utilised to advance the national interest, as well as to establish a common position on issues relating to the global and continental agendas, respectively. COVID-19 inhibited the department from pursuing a “normal” agenda as far as the conduct of bilateral relations was concerned. It was not possible to arrange high-level visits or in-person meetings during this period. As a result, most of these interactions were conducted virtually, in an attempt to continue to advance the objectives of the NDP and contribute to our domestic priorities. During 2020, DIRCO launched a review process of the SBMs with the aim of determining their effectiveness and relevance. It is expected that this process will be completed during 2021. During 2020, DIRCO also introduced the concept of country strategies. The aim of the strategies 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 the Medium Term Strategic Framework. It is expected that this process will be completed during 2021. The impact of the lockdowns in South Africa and across the world severely curtailed tourism and tourism promotion and missions in the region have focussed on social media campaigns to position South Africa for the eventual normalisation and opening of tourism flows. AFRICA The bilateral structured engagements and the high-level engagements by the President and Deputy President in Africa have contributed towards the improvement of bilateral relations. The economic diplomacy work undertaken by missions, aimed at improving trade, as well as identifying investment opportunities, will contribute towards the creation of jobs in South Africa as well as generating income by South African companies, which will be redirected into the national fiscus. In this regard, the branch’s priorities remain to enhance the African Agenda through strengthening political and economic relations across the African continent and through contributing to regional and continental peace, security, stability as well as sustainable development. The branch has also prioritised the advancement of Africa’s socio-economic development through regional economic communities (RECs) as building blocs for

Purpose: Promote relations with foreign countries Subprogramme: Africa; Asia and the Middle East; Americas and the Caribbean; and Europe The conduct of diplomacy between two states remains the pre-eminent basis for advancing national priorities, as well as for effective engagement in multilateral fora. Structured bilateral mechanisms (SBMs) regularise and govern bilateral engagements and are some of the most important and valuable foreign policy instruments to coordinate South Africa’s positions and activities towards a particular country. SBMs refer to numerous regularised and formalised meetings that South Africa has with other countries. These meetings usually take place in an agreed format and time frame pursuant to bilateral communiqués, agreements and/or other high-level decisions. It is an important platform for the entire spectrum of government-to-government relations and draws on the expertise of various departments depending on the area of cooperation being pursued. During 2020/21 South Africa, like the rest of the world, had to unexpectedly change the method in which international diplomacy was conducted, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All international travel was banned and, as a result, no face-to-face interactions could take place. As a result, this significantly contributed to the reduction of traditional in-person, high-level, bilateral and multilateral engagements. However, new ways of diplomatic engagement were utilised to ensure continued diplomacy. Consequently, the world has had to rely on digital platforms, such as MS Teams and Zoom, to conduct international and digital diplomacy. Due to the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic is showing no signs of slowing down, conducting diplomacy virtually has become the “new normal” and will continue to be so for a while to come. DIRCO is of the opinion that, despite the current situation, it is important that every effort is made to ensure the continuation of traditional diplomacy, in order to ensure the execution of its mandate, albeit under different circumstances. South Africa’s continued engagements with its strategic bilateral partners were a response to addressing the country’s priorities as reflected in the National Development Plan (NDP). SBMs and high-level visits provide a strategic platform and tool to advance and promote

Annual Report 2020/2021 I Vote No. 6

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