"One of the requests I made to my colleague João Gomes Cravinho was to intercede with TAP's leadership to create a direct route between Portugal and South Africa, to increase tourism on both sides and to ensure that the tourism sector, which was very affected by the pandemic, will recover", said Pandor at the end of a meeting with the Portuguese MNE, in Lisbon.

The meeting between the two leaders served to "jointly analyse the bilateral relations, which are very good, and made it possible to identify several areas in which collaboration and joint work can be intensified, such as the economy, renewable energies, agriculture and oceans," said Minister João Gomes Cravinho.

The South African minister also highlighted the blue economy and energy as priority areas, ensuring that "any person or company with energy solutions is welcome", implicitly referring to the frequent power cuts that affect South Africa and that hamper economic growth and industrial production.

Asked about more details regarding the visit of the President of the Republic to her country, as part of the celebrations of the Day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities, Naledi Pandor said that it will be "a great celebration", but declined to give further details.