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Minister of State Katja Keul is visiting South Africa and Lesotho
Minister of State Katja Keul issued the following statement yesterday (29 September 2024) prior to her trip to South Africa and Lesotho:
“This year, South Africa is celebrating 30 years of democracy. To this day, the achievement of overcoming apartheid shines as a beacon for humanity, justice and peace throughout the region and beyond. South Africa is one of Germany’s most important partners, whether in tackling the climate crisis or in reforming the United Nations. We will further deepen this partnership during the South African G20 Presidency in 2025.
As well as holding official talks with the South African Government, I will also be meeting representatives of the political, business and civil-society spheres and discussing, among other things, climate and energy issues, regional security issues and our G20 cooperation. In addition, I am looking forward to visiting sites related to German missionary history in South Africa and to talking about the regional partnership between Lower Saxony and the Eastern Cape province.
The Kingdom of Lesotho is celebrating its bicentenary on 4 October. It is a particular honour for me to take part in the celebrations in Maseru. While in Maseru, I will also mark the occasion with talks with His Majesty King Letsie III.
Background information:
The Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, Katja Keul, is visiting the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho from 30 September to 4 October 2024.
In South Africa, she will have talks at the South African foreign ministry, the Department of International Relations. In addition, she will travel to Stutterheim and in East London will meet the Premier of the Province of the Eastern Cape, which maintains a regional partnership with Lower Saxony. In Marikana, she will visit the mine that was the site of the Marikana massacre in 2012. She will also be hearing about German missionary history in South Africa, as well as discussing the rule of law and the fight against corruption with representatives of South African civil society.
In the second stage of the trip, Minister of State Keul will be the first senior representative of the Federal Government in decades to visit the Kingdom of Lesotho. On 4 October, she is taking part in the celebrations to mark the bicentenary of the Basotho nation. The day before that, she will meet His Majesty King Letsie III. She will also be looking at the water industry in Lesotho, a key sector of the country’s economy, and learning about German and European support measures.
In April 2024, the position of German Honorary Consul in Maseru, which had been vacant since July 2017, was filled. This has been warmly welcomed in Lesotho.