S. Africa, Rwanda committed to promoting ties: Ramaphosa

South Africa and Rwanda are committed to working collaboratively on a number of fronts from the top of the government to the bottom, South Africa's Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said Friday.

Rwanda and South Africa have had luke-warm relations after South Africa expelled in 2014 three Rwandan diplomats it linked to a raid on an exiled Rwandan general's Johannesburg home, and Rwanda retaliated by expelling six South African envoys.

Rwandans travelling to South Africa have found it hard to get visas.

Speaking to journalists in Kigali, Ramaphosa said the two countries are ready to bury the hatchet and move forward.

He said the two governments are discussing ways to address the visa issues among other efforts to promote warm bilateral relations.

"This matter is part of ingredients we are talking about in order to enhance integration on the continent, so that there must be easy movement of people and businesses on the continent and specifically between Rwanda and South Africa," said Ramaphosa.

He said the two countries have mended ties with focus on stronger political and economic ties.

In Rwanda for the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa, which closed on Friday, Ramaphosa led a high-level government and business delegation to the forum.

He said the mere presence in Kigali of a sizable delegation of both public and private owned enterprises and non-profit organizations was symbolic.

It means that South Africa and Rwanda are two countries on the African continent embracing the African notion of working together to achieve our 2063 goals as a continent, he said.

"We want to deepen relations between South Africa and Rwanda. South Africans have found that much as we are a larger economy on the African continent, there is a lot that we are learning from what Rwanda is doing," he said, citing Rwanda's has ICT development. Enditem