President Cyril Ramaphosa welcomed on Tuesday (June 6) his Portuguese counterpart. His Excellency Marcelo Rebelo De Sousa, on a State Visit to South Africa.
President Ramaphosa will in honour of President Marcelo Rebelo De Sousa host a welcome ceremony at the Union Buildings in Tshwane on Tuesday morning.
Mr. Ramaphosa detailed during a press conference, the meeting he held the previous day with heads of states from Zambia, Senegal, the Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Egypt.
The Presidents confirmed their availability to travel to Ukraine and Russia in mid-June, according to the South African presidency.
“Yesterday we met and confirmed that we are now at a stage where we are going to visit Kiev and Moscow and our mission is a peace mission really, and we want to dub it as a road to peace,” The South African President said.
The first thing that we discussed amongst ourselves is that we want to listen to both sides, they need to outline to us their own perspective on the war as well as what are their minimum requirements for bringing the conflict to an end.
Portugal’s president who was on a state visit saw Lisbon and Pretoria signed an agreement on Defence Cooperation. Marcelo Rebelo De Sousa and his counterpart discussed the ongoing conflict in Mozambique.
The two countries signed an agreement on Defence Cooperation. Marcelo Rebelo De Sousa and his counterpart also discussed the ongoing conflict in Mozambique.
The state visit to South Africa by the Portuguese Republic occurs in the same week Portugal celebrates its National Day on 10 June 2023. Each year, the Portuguese President visits a different country to celebrate the Day of Portugal with the Portuguese Diaspora.
“Portugal’s current cooperation with Mozambique [is] in an area linked to support for the assertion of the full territorial integrity of the sovereign state and the security which is threatened by terrorist attacks in northern Mozambique,” he said.
The talks of the two nations leaders which took place in Pretoria also focused on opportunities of mutual benefit in science and innovation, education, and energy.
The state visit to South Africa by Portugal’s president occurs in the same week Portugal celebrates its National Day.
Each year, the Portuguese President visits a different country to celebrate the Day with the Portuguese diaspora.
There are approximately 500 000 South Africans of Portuguese descent and about 200,000 Portuguese nationals who reside in South Africa permanently
President Cyril Ramaphosa and President Marcelo Rebelo De Sousa will lead their respective delegations in official talks during the occasion of the State Visit. Engagements will focus on the enhancement of cooperation in agriculture; basic education; defence; ocean economy; science and technology; tourism; and trade and investment.
South Africa and Portugal have well established trade relations which are abound with potential for further growth and diversification in 2023 and beyond. Bilateral trade figures for 2020 and 2021 have been positive. South African exports in 2021 were valued at approximately R2,8 billion while imports from Portugal were approximately R4,6 billion in the same year. Food constitutes about 50% of South African exports to Portugal.
