Date:01/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/01/stories/2006100113460100.htm

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Manmohan leaves for South Africa

Special Correspondent

His itinerary includes meeting with President Thabo Mbeki

`South Africa is India's biggest trading partner on the African continent'

`The two countries share a common vision of a cooperative, rule-based multi-polar world order'

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will participate in the Satyagraha Centenary Celebrations to honour Mahatma Gandhi during a four-day-long visit to South Africa.

In a statement prior to his departure for South Africa on Saturday morning, the Prime Minister said, "The philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi of resisting injustice and oppression by pursuing the path of truth and non-violence was born in South Africa and is a powerful legacy that is shared by the people of India and South Africa.

``I will also visit places which mark some milestones in the Mahatma's remarkable life; the Pietermaritzburg station where he was thrown out of an all-White train compartment, Phoenix Settlement and the Constitution Hill prison, where he was incarcerated. I will also visit the Umbilo Park Memorial, where several years later, brave South Africans opposed the injustice of the apartheid regime," he said.

Bilateral relations

The Prime Minister, who hopes to meet the anti-apartheid leader and former President, Nelson Mandela, will also have the opportunity to review bilateral relations and the India-South Africa "strategic partnership" with President Thabo Mbeki. "I hope to discuss with President Mbeki measures that both countries can take to further deepen our partnership."

Pointing out that South Africa was India's the biggest trading partner on the African continent, the Prime Minister stressed: "I hope we will be able to identify steps to enhance our current commercial and economic relationship."