KwaZulu-Natal
19 April 2007
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sibusiso Ndebele will host Singaporean President
Sellapan Ramanathan on Tuesday and Wednesday, 24 and 25 April 2007. President
Ramanathan is the first Singaporean Head of State to pay a State Visit to South
Africa, for bilateral political and economic discussions. The President is here
on a state visit to South Africa, invited by President Thabo Mbeki and would
have visited Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria before coming to
KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday.
Premier Ndebele will host President Ramanthan within the context of South
Africa's commitment to consolidating and strengthening relations with
Singapore. In addition, the visit which includes a 65-person delegation of
business and political figures from Singapore is aimed at achieving the
objectives of the New Africa-Asia Strategic Partnership adopted in April 2005.
This partnership mandated all Asian and African countries to give expression to
their political relations by expanding trade and economic relations. The
programme is as follows:
24 April 2007
There will be an official welcoming ceremony on arrival of the President at the
Durban International Airport at 10h45.
Visit to the Gandhi Settlement in Phoenix between 15h00 and 16h30.
Bilateral discussions between the Singaporean delegation and a delegation led
by Premier Ndebele to explore areas of co-operation between 18h00 and
18h30.
A formal dinner hosted by Premier Ndebele.
25 April
Visit to the Luthuli Museum in KwaDukuza from 09h30 to 11h00, then a city tour
in the afternoon. On this day a separate programme has been organised by the
Department of Economic Development, Trade and Investment and the Chamber of
Commerce for the business delegation coming from Singapore.
The visit by President Nathan to South Africa marks a clear resurgence of
interest in our bilateral relations. The focus of the visit is to facilitate
and promote trade and economic relations. New investment clusters and zones
will be identified to facilitate investment in infrastructure and enterprises
including the tourism sector development such as hotel and resort
development.
All journalists are kindly requested to contact Jeff Hassan on 082 884 1872
by no later than 12h00 on Monday, 23 April 2007 to confirm which events they
will be covering as well as to make arrangements for the collection of
accreditation tags and the media programme.
For enquiries, contact:
Logan Maistry
Spokesperson to Premier Ndebele
Cell: 083 644 4050
E-mail: maistryl@premier.kzntl.gov.za
Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
19 April 2007
