PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa will host French president Emmanuel Macron during a state visit at the Union Buildings in Pretoria next week, Presidency announced on Friday.
Macron’s first visit to South Africa on May 28 is at the invitation of Ramaphosa, who this week attended the Summit on the Financing of African Economies, organised by and hosted by France’s Macron.
Ramaphosa attended the Paris summit along with leaders from Nigeria, Angola, Senegal and others.
Presidential spokesperson Tyrone Seale said in a statement that the visit was aimed at strengthening the strategic partnership between the two countries.
“The visit will focus on issues pertaining to the global response to Covid-19 and the economic, health, Research and manufacturing responses to the current pandemic and beyond.”
Both Ramaphosa and Macron will also discuss the expansion of mutually beneficial trade and investment opportunities.
South Africa is France’s largest trading partner in Africa while France is South Africa’s second-largest trading partner within the European Union (EU) trading bloc.
Approximately 400 French companies are represented in South Africa.
During the 2019 South Africa Investment Conference, French companies pledged R20 billion of investment into South Africa.
At the Paris summit last week, Macron expressed interest in establishing a partnership with South African vaccine-producing institutions, to enhance manufacturing capacity.
- Inside Politics
