RUSSIA: SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT MANDELA VISIT

(28 Apr 1999) English/Nat

South African President Nelson Mandela has arrived in Moscow on a three-day official state visit aimed at boosting economic ties, particularly in mining and nuclear power.

During his stay Mandela will met top Russian officials including President Boris Yeltsin.
South African President Nelson Mandela arrived at the Vnukovo airport just outside Moscow on Wednesday.

Mandela, in Moscow until Friday, was accompanied by Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo and South African business leaders - among them representatives of the De Beers diamond cartel.

De Beers has been in talks with its Russian partners for several months to develop untouched diamond deposits near the Arctic Ocean port of Arkhangelsk.

Mandela was expected to sign a friendship agreement with President Boris Yeltsin and documents on trade and cooperation in minerals, nuclear energy and cultural affairs.

The Moscow Academy of Sciences will also give Mandela an honorary doctorate.

The visit was planned for earlier this year but was postponed twice - once because of the severe winter cold in Moscow and a second time because of the president Yeltsin's poor health.

Speaking to reporters shortly after his arrival, Mandela said that he had visited almost every country in the world and that it was fitting that he should visit Russia at the end of his career.

He said his visit was to express thanks to the Russian people and government.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We received enormous assistance from the Soviet Union, an assistance which we could not get from the West and Russia should have been the very first country I visited and I've come to pay that debt now."
SUPER CAPTION: Nelson Mandela, South African President

Mandela will be staying in the Kremlin - a privilege granted to only selected dignitaries.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was the last head of state to stay there.

Relations between Russia and South Africa have improved considerably since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and Mandela was elected South Africa's president in the nation's first multi-race elections in 1994.

After his visit to Russia, Mandela will travel to Hungary, Pakistan and China.

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