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It gives me great pleasure to extend to you a cordial invitation to visit a part of the world which until recently was a polecat of the world. It was the United Nations General Assembly that correctly condemned apartheid as a crime against humanity. Today it fitting that a United Nations organ - UNCTAD has seen it fit to be witness to the historical and profound changes currently unfolding in my country. It is fitting because the UN stood by us in the struggle against racial discrimination in South Africa without wavering at all. We thus invite you to partake in the miracle of your labour.

In coming to our country you are at the same time anchoring into a region that is not unfamiliar to the United Nations. In Southern Africa the UN was at the head of the decolonisation of Namibia; in Mozambique it helped shape the foundations for peace; soon the blue helmets will be in Angola, a country whose dimensions of suffering and pain are unquantifiable, to bring hope and stability.

During that nail biting period; as the seconds were furtively ticking towards the first non-racial democratic elections in my country; as the agents of violence and mayhem who were determined to forestall the dawn of liberation were detonating bomb after bomb in our cities; when the world was holding its collective breath praying that the transition process passes peacefully we took comfort in the presence of the UN in our midst. The UN Mission in South Africa became the focal conscience of all of us. So it is that we as South Africans cannot lay sole claim to what is now called the South African miracle. That miracle belongs to the world community as well.

We are now firmly rooted as a democracy under the baton of Mandela. We are out of the danger zone - it's all clear. Yet a much greater challenge faces us as we begin to lay the groundwork for the reconstruction of our society. The paradoxes of South Africa have never been more obscene and insulting to the human intellect. Alongside a world class infrastructure, an excellent scientific research and development capability you have a typically third world amalgam.

The tragedy in our country is not so much that you have the poor and the rich, the real horror is that this divide is along racial lines. Central to our strategy to reverse this anomaly is to broaden the economic ownership base. In growing and expanding our first world we hope to draw in our underdeveloped world.

We are of the south and seriously believe that the north cannot just keep on perpetuating itself at our expense. It is not handouts that we need but a global trade regime from which we should all benefit. We cannot continue being exporters of primary products at prices dictated to us or being refused access to markets at terms that can enhance our overall economic development.

I have no doubt that these are some of the issues that are on your list of priorities as you work out strategies on trade and development.

It is a privilege for us to host you in our country. We will offer you the best of our facilities and technical support system that will make UNCTAD IX the success it must be. Gauteng, your host province is the very heartland of South Africa. This is the wealth generating province of our country. We generate over 30% of South Africa's GDP and 40% of the entire subcontinent and 60% of the national fiscus is drawn from Gauteng. Our financial sector is one of the best in the world and we host the headquarters of leading South African and multinational corporations in the country. This is the land of Mandela. In Gauteng you will have access to the best conference facilities and telecommunications network our country has to offer. You will not be lost, your diplomatic kind is within easy reach so are our top business people. I look forward to seeing you in South Africa.

I thank you.

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