South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has postponed a scheduled visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) due to an upper-respiratory-tract infection, the Presidency said on Tuesday.
Ramaphosa was due to travel to Kinshasa on Monday, but was advised by doctors to recover from an upper-respiratory-tract infection before undertaking prolonged travel, presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko said.
The president “is receiving medical attention and making a good recovery,” Diko said.
The South African government has been in communication with the DRC government regarding this change in Ramaphosa’s schedule, Diko said.
President @CyrilRamaphosa postpones travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo. https://t.co/zy3UnTrmtp
— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) October 16, 2018
Ramaphosa and his DRC counterpart, Joseph Kabila, had been expected to ratify the agreements reached between the two countries at the 11th Session of the Bi-National Commission (BNC) currently underway in Kinshasa.
The two leaders will ratify the agreements at a future stage, according to Diko.
The South African government has expressed its appreciation for the DRC’s hosting of the official and ministerial deliberations that have taken place in Kinshasa in preparation for the participation of the two heads of government in the BNC, Diko said.
The BNC was established in 2004 to promote political, economic, and social cooperation between the two countries.
Since the establishment of the BNC, the two countries have strengthened their bilateral cooperation in various fields, resulting in 33 agreements having been signed.
These legal instruments cover a wide range of areas, including agriculture, defense, trade and investment, health, police, energy, public service and administration, cooperative governance, transport, and immigration, according to the Presidency.
