IFNUL Visit of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of South Africa to Ukraine
September 4, 2014 – Within the framework of the official visit to Lviv, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa, Christiaan Albertus Basson, met with the Rector of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Professor Volodymyr Melnyk. During the meeting parties discussed the possibility of establishing close international contacts, development of joint research projects and academic exchange. The Ambassador emphasized that Ukrainian scientists, experts in the fields of biochemistry, genetics, information technologies and engineering work in the leading universities of the Republic of South Africa. Therefore, the Ambassador showed an interest in development of academic cooperation with the Faculties of Natural Sciences.
Afterwards the meeting of the Ambassador with the students from the Faculty of International Relations took place in the Mirror Hall of the University. The experience of state building in the Republic of South Africa, that has overcome complicated way from the colony to the democratic parliamentary republic, from racial and ethnic discrimination to the principles of multicultural, multi-ethnic society with the priority of human rights, was the subject of the ambassador’s report. During his speech, Christiaan Albertus Basson outlined the main trends in economic development of the country, especially business, social progress and also told about problems of the country, in particular: inflation, unemployment, poverty, problems with clean drinking water etc.