The external affairs minister will visit South Africa this week to attend the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) foreign ministers’ meeting to be held at Capetown.
Photo: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is likely to meet his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang and Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov during his visit to South Africa this week to attend the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) foreign ministers’ meeting to be held at Capetown.
Apart from South Africa, Jaishankar, who leaves here tomorrow, will also visit Namibia during his six-day foreign visit.
In his meeting with his Chinese foreign minister, Jaishankar is expected to reiterate India’s stand that the ongoing India-China military stand-off at eastern Ladakh must be amicably resolved peacefully as a first step towards the normalisation of bilateral ties.
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The Ministry of External Affairs said the foreign minister will visit South Africa from 1-3 June 2023 to participate in the BRICS meeting. Besides attending the meeting, he will hold bilateral meetings with other foreign ministers. He will also call on the President of South Africa and have an interaction with the Indian diaspora in Capetown.
Thereafter, Jaishankar will visit Namibia from 4-6 June. This will be the first visit by an External Affairs Minister of India to Namibia. During the visit, he will call on the top leadership of the country and also meet with other ministers.
Jaishankar will also co-chair the inaugural session of the joint commission meeting with the Namibian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. He will also interact with the Indian diaspora based in Namibia.
Jaishankar’s visit to South Africa and Namibia is expected to further strengthen India’s strong bilateral relations with these two countries, the MEA said.
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