Pretoria — President Thabo Mbeki will lead the South African delegation to the inaugural Heads of State summit for the India - Brazil - South Africa (IBSA) partnership, to be held in Brazil on Wednesday.

The event will bring together Mr Mbeki with his Brazilian counterpart President Lula da Silva and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India

A meeting of the three countries' Foreign Ministers is expected to precede the summit on Tuesday.

Since its inception in 2003, IBSA has been instrumental in promoting closer co-ordination on global issues among the three developing countries, which are regarded as democratic and non-racial with large economies in their respective continents.

The summit follows the Ministerial Trilateral Joint Commission meetings that took place in New Delhi in 2004, Cape Town last year and Rio de Janeiro this year

IBSA seeks to deepen South-South dialogue and co-operation while promoting trade and investment opportunities and the development of new markets.

Other key aims of the summit include concluding trilateral agreements or Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) on transport, agriculture, energy, trade facilitation and information and communication technology (ICT).

Speaking at the Union Buildings on Sunday, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said trilateral agreements that would feature prominently at the IBSA Summit are in the fields of energy, transport and climate change.

He said IBSA already has Sectoral Working Groups in the fields of agriculture, culture, defence, education, health, information society, science and technology, social development, trade and investment as well as tourism

On Tuesday, a day before the main event, a South African delegation of business people would participate in the IBSA Business Summit, which is expected to discuss trade and investment opportunities in the three countries, among others.

The Business Summit would also discuss a comparative study of the investment climate in these countries, focusing on infrastructure, Information and Communication Technologies, banking, transportation, agriculture, energy, innovation and technological development.

At the same time, academics from the three countries will be converging in the IBSA Academic Seminar to discuss science and technology, economic cooperation, public policies, social development, democracy and cultural diversity.