SA is working on relaxing visa regulations to make it easier for Indian citizens to travel with ease, President Jacob Zuma said on Friday. SA has the largest population of Indians outside of India.
Zuma was speaking after talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a tour of Africa in an attempt to boost ties with the region. Modi visited Mozambique before arriving in Pretoria, and will also visit Tanzania and Kenya.
Zuma said they had agreed to expand and improve people-to-people contact between the countries. "We would like to assure the Indian side that SA is a wonderful tourism destination and that simplification of SA's visa regime with India is underway," he said. "This will promote ease of travel to SA."
The countries have a strong relationship, with more than 100 Indian companies operating in SA.
Speaking in April after visiting India, Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom said issues raised by Indian travel companies included the difficulties they experienced in obtaining visas from the Department of Home Affairs.
At the time, he said the Cabinet's decision to allow citizens of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA) countries to get multiple-entry visas valid for 10 years was slowly being implemented. Frequent visitors from India qualified for a three-year multiple-entry visa.
Source: Business Day
