Morales meets Mbeki in South Africa

South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki congratulated in Johannes burg on Jan. 10 Bolivia’s President-elect Evo Morales, describing his election as evidence of the continuing changes in Latin America. Morales is on an international tour.

President-elect Evo Morales and President Thabo Mbeki.

“Your election as the president of Bolivia indicates that the tide of change continues to sweep through Latin America bringing with it the hope of political and economic transformation and development for your country and indeed the region as a whole,” Mbeki said when receiving the leader of the Movement towards Socialism (MAS).

After conveying South Africa’s support for the future MAS government, Mbeki said that Morales’ election “brings with it the optimism and glad tidings that 2006 will also usher in the desired fundamental socio-economic changes that your country expects.”

He stressed that the South African government and its people stood ready to continue working to advance the developmental agenda of the south in general and of Bolivia in particular.

Morales will be inaugurated as Bolivia’s first indigenous president on Jan. 22. He’s currently fulfilling an international tour that has already taken him to Cuba, Venezuela, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, China and now South Africa.

Morales is scheduled to visit Brazil and Argentina and is expected to meet with the presidents of Paraguay and Ecuador before he is sworn in as president.