Brian Stanley
Question:121. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has spoken to the Irish Ambassador to South Africa in the past three months. [4630/21]
View answerThursday, 28 January 2021
Questions (121)
Written answers
Ireland’s Embassy in Pretoria maintains continuous communication with Department of Foreign Affairs headquarters and senior officials. In line with established Department of Foreign Affairs reporting procedures, the Ambassador and Embassy team provide regular political and economic reports with respect to South Africa and all countries of secondary accreditation – Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius, and Zimbabwe. These are in addition to frequent expenditure and operational reports, and, since March 2020, rolling updates with regard to COVID-19.
The Embassy currently provides weekly situation reports and regular updates on COVID-19 developments and their impact on Irish citizens in South Africa and the region. These reports are supplemented by regular contact between headquarters and the Ambassador and Embassy officials, as well as with officials at the South African Embassy in Dublin.
Ireland and South Africa also maintain regular contact at Ministerial level. Minister Coveney last spoke to his South African counterpart, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr. Naledi Pandor, by phone in December 2020, further to a call in May 2020. In both discussions, Ministers addressed the impacts of COVID-19 in South Africa and Ireland, as well as a range of other issues of mutual interest. Our Ambassador to South Africa and officials in our Embassy in Pretoria were closely involved with the preparation for and follow-up to such calls.
The established framework for bilateral consultations between South Africa and Ireland is the South Africa-Ireland Joint Commission for Cooperation, of which I am co-chair. In November 2020, a virtual meeting of the Joint Commission was held at senior official level – which included the participation of our Ambassador to South Africa, as well as the South African Ambassador to Ireland. The meeting reviewed progress across a wide range of areas of bilateral and multilateral cooperation and included a discussion on the global response to COVID-19 and the impact of COVID-19 in South Africa. Talks at official level continue in preparation of a Ministerial-level meeting of the Joint Commission, which I will co-chair in late 2021.