Pretoria – Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has arrived in Mexico to attend the Open Government Partnership Global Summit which will be held in Mexico City.
Deputy President Ramaphosa will be representing President Jacob Zuma at the summit which started on Monday and is expected to end on Wednesday.
“The objective of the Open Government Partnership - formed in 2011 and which currently comprises 66 member states - is to improve government transparency, accountability and responsiveness to citizens with the aim of improving services and reducing poverty,” the Presidency said.
At the summit, South Africa is expected to assume the leadership and chairpersonship of the organisation taking over from the current chair Mexico, which led the organisation in the past year.
Deputy President Ramaphosa will pay a courtesy call to Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to discuss the consolidation of bilateral political, economic and trade relations between the two countries.
South Africa and Mexico established diplomatic relations in 1993. A Bi-National Commission, chaired at the level of the two countries’ ministries of international relations, was established in 2009 to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries.
Other key engagements that Deputy President Ramaphosa will undertake include addressing a Business Breakfast and Trade and Investment Seminar on Tuesday.
This will included a meeting with Carlos Slim the Founder of Grupo Carso, with a view to assuring Mexican business leaders that South Africa remains open for business and investment opportunities.
“Deputy President Ramaphosa will also have an occasion to hold a meeting with Manilo Fabio Beltrones Rivera, the President of the ruling Mexican political party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party later on Tuesday,” the Presidency said.
He is expected to return to South Africa on Friday. – SAnews.gov.za
