South African President Jacob Zuma will be accompanied by the largest-ever business delegation during his three-day visit to the country beginning on Wednesday. In addition, at least six senior Ministers will accompany Mr. Zuma.
“What we are told, it is the largest-ever business delegation to accompany a [South African] President during his visit abroad. There will be some 200 businessmen and CEOs accompanying him representing various sectors of the South African economy. The vibrant economic and commercial partnership is literally at the heart of this relationship,'' noted Foreign Office spokesperson Vishnu Prakash.
According high importance to the visit which has been cut short by a day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be assisted in delegation level talks on Friday by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Defence Minister A. K. Antony, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, Minister of Civil Aviation Praful Patel, Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur and Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot. His team will also comprise Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister T. K. A. Nair, National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon, Secretary (West) in the Foreign Office Vivek Katju and Joint Secretary (East and South Africa) in the Foreign Office Gurjit Singh.
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Mr. Zuma reaches Mumbai on Wednesday where he will be meeting with the Governor. Next day, he would have meetings with the business fraternity and the South African Business Forum.
In Delhi, “we will have substantive delegation-level talks with the Prime Minister where they are likely to cover all issues of bilateral and international interest,'' added Mr. Prakash. Besides signing a number of agreements, Mr. Zuma would attend an important business meeting.
It is noteworthy that South Africa is home to one of the largest concentrations of people of Indian origin anywhere in the world.
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It is estimated that there are over 15 lakh Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) in South Africa which constitutes about two and a half per cent of the country's population. The visit takes place in the 150th year of the arrival of first batch of Indians to South Africa.