Defence minister visiting Russia ahead of BRICS summit

3189

The Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, is on official visit to the Russian Federation to strengthen bilateral defence cooperation between South Africa and Russia ahead of the BRICS summit in March.

The Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) Summit will be held in South Africa in March this year.

The Ministry of Defence today said that the minister and her delegation have held two meetings with the Russian Deputy Prime Minister and the Defence Deputy Minister respectively.

The two countries have agreed to pursue further discussions on possible cooperation and exchange programs in the areas defence training and technical fields.

Speaking from Moscow, Minister Mapisa-Nqakula expressed her satisfaction with the bi-lateral discussions so far, the Ministry of Defence said.
“This engagement is the start of even greater cooperation between the two defence forces. The Russian Federation is a natural partner for South Africa following the immense and selfless contribution that the Russian people have made in our struggle for liberation (in South Africa),” Mapisa-Nqakula said.
“It is our intentions that beyond the BRICS summit our senior officials will take forward the initial discussions we had here and translate them into various cooperation agreements.”

The next official visit for the Minister will be to India, also a member state of BRICS next month.