The South African president will tell Rishi Sunak to allow many more academics from his country to participate in the Downing Street talks.
Delivering a historic speech tonight to MPs and their peers, Cyril Ramaphosa said he was looking to triple the 800 South Africans who had Chevening scholarships and the 130 PhD fellows in Britain.
In an impromptu intervention, he said: “I would like those numbers to triple. And when I meet with the prime minister tomorrow, that’s one of the messages I’ll pass on to him. “
This is the latest tension over the prime minister, who this week resisted calls from businesses for immigration regulations to cover staff shortages after Brexit and Covid.
President Ramaphosa, in a UK state, delivered the first official speech to members of both houses of parliament through a South African leader since Nelson Mandela in 1996.
He called on nations to send “substantial resources” to the poorest to pay for the effects of climate change.
He told the audience of about 400 people, adding to Boris Johnson and Peter Hain, that “it’s not charity,” “it’s payment for the damage done and the damage that remains to be done. “
He added that Covid had revealed “fault lines within the global order” and admitted that South Africa faces “severe shortages of electricity”.
Ahead of the state visit, Rishi Sunak announced the next phase of an infrastructure partnership between the two countries, promising British businesses “greater access” to projects of up to £5. 37 billion.
But President Ramaphosa said Britain will have to “speak out for” the U. N. Security Council and banks that “need to be better equipped” to help emerging countries.
He said a statue of Nelson Mandela near the British Parliament – and a statue of Queen Victoria near the Parliament Buildings in Cape Town – showed the “redemption” of the two nations after apartheid.
“These statues are part of the history of a dating about colonialism and conflict, dispossession and degradation,” he said.
“It’s the story of a relationship. . . solidarity and compassion, a shared preference for equality, human rights and the realization of everyone’s perspective. “
President Ramaphosa delivered his 20-minute speech at the luxurious Royal Gallery with gold leaf and 72 chandeliers, as his country faces normal blackouts and an unemployment rate of 34%.
He is also facing a scandal at home, where there are doubts about the theft of more than £3 million from his hunting farm. He denied “any form of money laundering. “
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