Pretoria - Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe concluded his official visit to Italy on Wednesday where he held bilateral talks with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.
The Presidency said this week Motlanthe and Monti were expected to review the scope of relations between South Africa and Italy and identify possible further areas of cooperation.
Speaking at a dinner hosted by the Mayor of Reggio Emilia, Graziano Delrio on Tuesday night, Motlanthe said South Africa recognised the contribution made by the city during the liberation struggle to defeat apartheid.
"Determined to support anti-colonial struggles in Southern Africa, Reggio Emilia made significant contribution to the struggle of the people of Zimbabwe, the people of Mozambique, the people of Namibia and the people South Africa," he said.
In 1978, Reggio Emilia organised and hosted the 'National Conference of Solidarity with the Peoples of Southern Africa in the Struggle against Racism, Apartheid and Colonialism'. The ruling ANC was represented at that conference by its then President, the late Oliver Regional Tambo.
Relations between South Africa and Italy have been strengthened through interaction at bilateral and multilateral levels, specifically within the context of the European Union, the G8, G20, the support for and the implementation of the G8 Africa Action Plan through NEPAD and the United Nations, principally with regard to peacekeeping missions and humanitarian efforts. - SAnews.gov.za
