Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma was among the first few world leaders to offer congratulations and good wishes to Prime Minister-elect of India, Narendra Modi, for winning the general elections in India.
"With India under the leadership of Mr Modi, the Government of South Africa looks forward to consolidating the strong bilateral political and economic relations that exist between our two sister Republics,” said President Zuma on Saturday.
Modi’s party - which was the opposition - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), won last week’s general elections. He will be sworn-in this week.
President Zuma also paid tribute to the outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, for his “progressive leadership” of India.
President Zuma said Prime Minister Singh played a vital role in consolidating relations between South Africa and India.
South Africa and India already enjoy strong historical relations that have been formalized through various bilateral and multilateral mechanisms.
The two countries share membership of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) and the G20, amongst other multilateral groupings. – SAnews.gov.za
