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South African Consul General from Mumbai: South Africa to Ease Visa process Norms for Indian Visitors

Ms. Maropene Ramokgopa, South African Consul General from Mumbai today said that Visa process to visit South Africa will further be eased in the coming days.

Delivering the keynote address at an interactive session on South African Tourism organised by Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) in Bangalore, Ms. Maropene Ramokgopa, Consul General from Mumbai said that South Africa Government is in the process of simplifying visa process in order to not only increase tourist flow into South Africa but also make stakeholders experience smoother and faster. She said: “We want to modernise the system and ease the burden as far as visa processing is concerned.”

The stakeholders and key Trade travel partners discussed the re-occurring challenges of visa processing as one of the key issues which hinders the over-all experience of Indians travelling to South Africa.

At the interactive session, Ms. Maropene Ramokgopa also informed that South African Government has introduced several schemes including offering incentives to Indian tour operators to promote tourism in South Africa. Ms. Maropene said: “We Invite Indian investors to invest in South Africa, especially in the tourism sector”.

India and South Africa share a rich cultural and varied economic history, with bilateral relations.

Delivering the welcome address Mr. Kishore Alva, President BCIC & Joint President and Executive Director, Adani - Udupi Power Corporation Ltd said: “India has carried out a number of initiatives in the past decade to facilitate economic relations between the two countries. The Government of India launched the “Focus Africa” programme with the objective of strengthening trade ties with the African countries. The programme extends almost to the entire African continent and the primary objective is to increase interaction by identifying potential areas for bilateral trade and investment.”

In April 2018, the first India-South Africa Business Summit was organised in Johannesburg. Most of the  discussion centered on opportunities available for investment across a diverse range of sectors, including automobile, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, agro-processing, tourism, IT/BT and startups. MoUs were signed between the national investment promotion agencies ‘Invest India’ and ‘Invest SA’ to promote bilateral trade and scale up business engagement.

India is South Africa’s sixth largest trading partner in Asia, growing steadily from US$ 4.7 billion in 2007 to close to US$10 billion at present. The Total trade reached a peak of US$ 15 billion in 2012 – before the global economic slowdown and domestic political factors put a brake on the rapid expansion. Both countries are now working to boost trade volumes over the next five years, to reach US$20 billion.