South Africa's leader welcomed Tuesday (June 6) his Portuguese counterpart.

Cyril Ramaphosa detailed during a press conference, the meeting he held the previous day with heads of states from Zambia, Senegal, the Republic of Congo, Uganda and Egypt.

The Presidents confirmed their availability to travel to Ukraine and Russia in mid June, according to the South African presidency. 

"Yesterday we met and confirmed that we are now at a stage where we are going to visit Kiev and Moscow and our mission is a peace mission really, and we want to dub it as a road to peace," Ramaphosa said. 

"The first thing that we discussed amongst ourselves is that, we want to listen to both sides, they need to outline to us their own perspective on the war as well as what are their minimum requirements for bringing the conflict to an end.

Portugal’s president who was on a state visit saw Lisbon and Pretoria signed an agreement on Defence Cooperation. Marcelo Rebelo De Sousa and his counterpart discussed the ongoing conflict in Mozambique.

Opportunities of mutual benefit

The two countries signed an agreement on Defence Cooperation. Marcelo Rebelo De Sousa and his counterpart also discussed the ongoing conflict in Mozambique.

The state visit to South Africa by the Portuguese Republic occurs in the same week Portugal celebrates its National Day on 10 June 2023. Each year, the Portuguese President visits a different country to celebrate the Day of Portugal with the Portuguese Diaspora.

"Portugal's current cooperation with Mozambique [is] in an area linked to support for the assertion of the full territorial integrity of the sovereign state and the security which is threatened by terrorist attacks in northern Mozambique," he said.

The talks of the two nations leaders which took place in Pretoria also focused on opportunities of mutual benefit in science and innovation, education and energy.

The state visit to South Africa by Portugal's president occurs in the same week Portugal celebrates its National Day.

Each year, the Portuguese President visits a different country to celebrate the Day with the Portuguese diaspora.

There are approximately 500 000 South Africans of Portuguese descent and about 200,000 Portuguese nationals who reside in South Africa permanently.

-Africa News