The Deputy President of South Africa, His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa, has on Monday, 7 July 2014, arrived in Sri Lanka for an official visit scheduled for 7 to 8 July 2014 in his capacity as Special Envoy of the President.
Deputy President Ramaphosa was appointed by His Excellency President Jacob Zuma as his Special Envoy to Sri Lanka and South Sudan during the First State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 13 February 2014. It will be Deputy President Ramaphosa’ s first visit to Sri Lanka as Special Envoy of the President.
During the Commonwealth Heads of State and Government (CHOGM) meeting in November 2013, President Zuma met his counterpart, President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka. It was during this occasion that President Rajapaksa requested President Zuma to share South Africa’s experiences in reconciliation and nation-building with Sri Lanka.
The Deputy President’s visit to Sri Lanka follows two earlier visits to South Africa by senior delegations from both the Sri Lankan Government and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) respectively in February and April 2014. Both these delegations also met Deputy President Ramaphosa and invited him to visit Sri Lanka.
Deputy President Ramaphosa will be supported during the visit to Sri Lanka by the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms Nomaindia Mfeketo.
Enquiries:
Mr Clayson Monyela, spokesperson for DIRCO
Cell: 082 884 5974
