International Relations and Cooperation Minister Dr Naledi Pandor will participate in the 58th Munich Security Conference (MSC), which gets underway in Germany today.

“During the conference, Minister Pandor will participate in and deliver the opening remarks at a roundtable discussion on pandemic preparedness. The roundtable aims to explore what reforms should be introduced and new instruments or initiatives should be developed to make sure that the world is better prepared for the next pandemic,” said the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in a statement.

The MSC, which runs from Friday and will conclude on Sunday, is an annual conference on international security that has taken place in Munich since 1963.

It is the world’s largest gathering of its kind and is normally attended by Heads of State, government and international organisations, Cabinet Ministers, parliamentarians and high-ranking representatives of the armed forces.

Minister Pandor will be joined on the panel by Karl Lauterbach, the Minister of Health of Germany, John Nkengasong, the Director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and by Sir Jeremy Farrar, Director of the Wellcome Trust.

Minister Pandor will also attend a breakfast engagement with female Foreign Ministers, which will be hosted by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock of Germany and Foreign Minister Marise Payne of Australia.

The breakfast engagement will focus on the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda.

South Africa and Switzerland are the co-chairs of the WPS Network for 2022. Minister Pandor is also expected to have several bilateral engagements with other Foreign Ministers attending the conference.

Source: South African Government News Agency