Madbouli heads for South Africa to attend Ramaphosa’s inauguration

CAIRO - 25 May 2019: Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli headed on Friday for South Africa to attend the inauguration ceremony of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria on behalf of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

The Egyptian participation is part of Cairo's keenness on cementing relations with its brethren African countries and constant coordination and consultation on issues of mutual concern in favor of the continent's interests, given Egypt's current chairmanship of the African Union.

In 18 May, South African Minister of Presidency Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma announced that the president [Ramaphosa] invited heads of governments of SADC countries and the presidents who chair economic blocs like ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States), and the president who is chairing the AU.

The inauguration will be attended by the heads of Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states, which includes Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Ramaphosa had paid Egypt an official visit on April 22, during which he discussed with president Sisi the ways of enhancing the bilateral relations and African development strategies in light of Egypt’s chairmanship of the African Union, according to a statement from the Egyptian presidential spokesperson Bassam Radi.