Pretoria - Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will today start his four-day working visit to the United Kingdom, where he is expected to engage with the business community.
The country’s second-in-command will also meet with the South African diaspora, and will deliver a lecture at a conference organised by Oxford University, entitled ‘1994-2014: 20 Years of South African Democracy’. The conference is to be attended by British scholars and South African academics.
The Deputy President will be the guest of honour at the South African High Commission's Freedom Day reception, which aims to celebrate 20 years of freedom and democracy in South Africa.
South Africa and the UK have longstanding historic relations, which cover a wide range of cooperation in the fields of trade, health, technology and education, among others.
“The UK is one of the important sources of Foreign Direct Investment into South Africa from Europe, with total investment for the period January 2009 to June 2012 at R44.3 billion.
“In 2012, the UK was South Africa's seventh largest export market. It also continues to be one of the important sources of long haul tourists to South Africa,” said the Department of International Relations and Cooperation. – SAnews.gov.za
