Pretoria - The Deputy President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Aristóbulo Istύriz, will visit South Africa from 8 - 10 May.
South Africa will be the start of Deputy President Istύriz’s agenda of working visits to the BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] countries. During his visit, he will meet with his counterpart, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, and also pay a courtesy call on President Jacob Zuma.
“Venezuela remains a strategic country to South Africa and will be hosting the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in September 2016. It is therefore possible that the two Deputy Presidents will discuss, among other things, the economic cooperation between the two countries.
“The visit also aims to continue the consolidation of diplomatic ties that already exist,” said South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation.
South Africa and Venezuela have maintained strong political relations. Diplomatic relations were established in 1993 and in 1995, Venezuela opened its embassy in Pretoria. South Africa opened its embassy in Caracas in January 1998.
Venezuela plays an important role in the region and is a member of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America (ALBA) and the proprietor of the PetroCaribe initiative. – SAnews.gov.za
