Thank you, Speaker. I am Ms Magau, the Whip. The Chairperson is held up somewhere. In his state of the nation address of 2010, President Jacob Zuma gave the directive that the Fourth Parliament should be an activist Parliament.
The committee on international relations, responding to this, held outreach programmes at a number of universities, including the University of Cape Town.
The intention or the objective of the outreach programmes was to demystify the myth that South African foreign policy is elitist. This gave an opportunity to the committee on international relations to interact with the students, the media and the South African public.
The result of this engagement was expected to also have the committee assess the performance of the Department of International Relations and Co- operation with regard to linking foreign policy to national priorities.
The committee has a number of resolutions or recommendations for the House to note and to adopt, specifically the following: The committee emphasised the need for the Department of International Relations and Co-operation to intensify its public diplomacy efforts; to request Parliament to strengthen parliamentary diplomacy; and to request Members of Parliament, as they do their work elsewhere, to make sure that they are briefed on the necessary positions of our foreign relations from time to time. Thank you. [Applause.]
There was no debate.
Hon Speaker, I move:
That the Report be adopted.
Motion agreed to. Report accordingly adopted.