SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

VIP CORPORATE MEMBERS’ BREAKFAST, TUESDAY 16 NOVEMBER on 'State Visits as a Tool of Economic Diplomacy: Bandwagon or Business Sense?' We cordially invite you to the next SAIIA VIP Corporate Members’ event for this year and hope that you or a senior representative will be able to attend. These events are part of the portfolio of services provided by the Institute to its VIP corporate members and offer you insights into current issues.

We cordially invite you to the next SAIIA VIP Corporate Members’ event for this year and hope that you or a senior representative will be able to attend. These events are part of the portfolio of services provided by the Institute to its VIP corporate members and offer you insights into current issues.

Since President Zuma assumed office, he has been accompanied on most of his State Visits to other countries by large business delegations. The media and others have raised questions about the policy of including the private sector in diplomatic initiatives, particularly with regards to those who have been involved, the value of such activities and the benefits to the broader South African community. This briefing will seek to explore the positives of using State Visits as a tool of economic diplomacy. It will also discuss the challenges and ways in which these could be addressed going forward.

The briefing will be made by Ms Catherine Grant, Head of SAIIA’s Economic Diplomacy programme. Ms Catherine Grant holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics and a Bachelor of Laws (Honors) from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. She is currently completing a Masters of Public and Development Management at Wits University in Johannesburg with a focus on the capacity of the private sector in the region to participate in trade negotiations.

Ms. Grant was a diplomat for New Zealand for over 10 years and was posted in New York, Geneva and Pretoria, where she held the position of Deputy High Commissioner. She has participated in United Nations and World Trade Organisation negotiations.

Ms. Grant also worked as a consultant on trade and development matters before joining Business Unity South Africa in April 2007 as Director: Trade Policy. Her portfolio at BUSA included trade negotiations, trade and investment promotion activities, international relations and trade policy matters. She represented BUSA at Nedlac on trade and other related issues. Ms. Grant was also the Secretary of the SADC Employers Group and SADC Business Forum. She left BUSA at the end of August 2010 to take up the position as the head of a new research programme called “Economic Diplomacy” at the South African Institute of International Affairs

Date: Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Time: 07:45 for 08:00 (to end at 09:30)

Venue: The Grace Hotel, 54 Bath Avenue (cnr Tyrwhitt Ave), Rosebank, Johannesburg

RSVP: Mbali Mbatha at Mbali.Mbatha3@wits.ac.za or 011 339 2021 ext 118

We look forward to seeing you or your representative at the breakfast.

Yours sincerely

Jonathan Stead

Director of Marketing and Operations

South African Institute of International Affairs

Tel: +27 (0) 11 339 2021 ext 102

Fax: +27 (0) 11 339 2154 or 086 553 2406 (direct)

E mail: Jonathan.Stead@wits.ac.za