Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Ministers, Your Excellencies, hon members and guests, among South Africa's ambitions has been to transform some of the international financial and political institutions, the International Monetary Fund, IMF, included. Logically, there should be no plausible reason for South Africa not to propose and support the Manuel candidature for the IMF position. He has over the years as Minister of Finance developed a deeper understanding of the African agenda and that of the developing world. Moreover, he is South Africa's homegrown product, of whom the country should be proud.
In their recent addresses to Parliament, the President of the Republic, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Economic Development respectively placed more emphasis on the need for greater participation and inclusion of the majority of the people of this country in the process of economic planning, development, growth, ownership and management. They, and rightfully so, believed that this was key to the creation of jobs on a large scale and, therefore, economic justice.
Madam Minister, a strong national economy rooted in the majority possesses the capacity to underpin and sustain an effective and efficient foreign policy. It will also assure South Africa of an economic sovereignty capable of driving regional economic integration and development in the face of a strong globalising agenda.
We need only to observe the perspectives driving international political power and security to realise that the powerful nations of the world employ their strong national economies to author the rules of international trade and politics, primarily to promote and secure their national interests first. More than a century ago Lord Palmerston made this feature of international relations much clearer when he said of Britain:
We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual ...
The military strikes by the United Nations and Nato forces in Libya and Cte d'Ivoire totally disregarded the overtures coming from the African Union, AU, calling for political dialogue to end the civil war in Libya. This amounts to a clear demonstration of the old adage influencing the balance of power: The strong will do what they will and the weak will suffer what they must. This is in spite of the fact that we warned before the air strikes that international humanitarian aid law required the international community to intervene and said that it might use force where another state was seen to be decimating its own civilian population.
We are also proud of President Zuma for his courage and his attempts to salvage the AU's initial position on Libya in the face of what appears to be a lost cause, particularly at a time when the US, Britain and France are insisting on a regime change in Libya.
Regarding the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, South Africa should proactively encourage the current efforts at reconciling Hamas and Fatah in order to pave the way for a political dialogue between Israel and Palestine. It would also impress on the leadership of Hamas that recognition of the existence of Israel is imperative for the success of the settlement based on the two-state solution and peaceful co-existence. The parties in the conflict should be reminded of these words spoken by one of the region's past prominent leaders:
We, like you, are people - people who want to build a home, to plant a tree, to love, to live side by side with you in dignity, in empathy, as human beings, as free men. That was the former Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin. [Time expired.] [Applause.]