South African president Cyril Ramphosa will be the chief guest at next year’s Republic Day parade, confirmed the Ministry of External Affairs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on the sidelines of the G-20 summit here and invited him to be the Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebrations next year, which also marks the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The South African leader accepted the invitation to grace the occasion.
"Glad to have met President @CyrilRamaphosa. At a time when India is marking the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, it is our honour to welcome President Ramaphosa as the Chief Guest for the 2019 Republic Day celebrations. Bapu's close link with South Africa is well known," Modi tweeted after the meeting.
He said Ramaphosa's visit to India will further cement bilateral ties between the two countries.
"The upcoming visit of President @CyrilRamaphosa, and that too during the special occasion of India's Republic Day will further cement business and people-to-people ties between India and South Africa," Modi tweeted.
Following the meeting between Modi and Ramaphosa, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Ravish Kumar tweeted, "150 years of Mahatma & 100 years of Madiba!" He was referring to July 18 this year, which marks 100 years since the birth of the global icon Nelson Mandela, also popularly known as Madiba, who died in 2013 at the age of 95.
Kumar further tweeted, "Good meeting between PM @narendramodi & South Africa President @CyrilRamaphosa on margins of #G20Summit. President Ramaphosa accepted India's invitation to be the Chief Guest at Republic Day during 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi."
Earlier Prime Minister Narendra Modi had extended an invitation to US President Donald Trump, but he expressed his inability citing 'scheduling conflicts.'
Cyril Ramaphosa will be the second leader from South Africa to attend India's Republic Day parade as the chief guest. Former President Nelson Mandela was the chief guest at the 1995 Republic Day parade.
South African President Ramaphosa is a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. A few months back, he led as many as 5,000 people at the annual 'Gandhi Walk' event organized at Lenasia, a few kilometers away from Johannesburg in an attempt to promote fitness and community awareness.
India and South Africa are making efforts to develop bilateral relations in order to boost trade and investment relations. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Ramaphosa on the sidelines of the BRICS summit held in Johannesburg. During the meet, the two-state heads signed MoUs in the areas of defense, trade, culture, agriculture, and dairy cooperation.
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