Hyderabad: Telangana and South Africa have agreed to cooperate in the fields of education, medical tourism and investment.
Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy along with Ministers D. Sridhar Babu and C. Damodar Raja Narasimha held an important bilateral meeting with a high-level delegation from South Africa led by Vice President Paul Mashatile here on Wednesday.
According to the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), both sides agreed to cooperate in the fields of education, medical tourism and investment with the aim of strengthening educational exchanges, promoting medical tourism and attracting investments for mutual benefit.
The Chief Minister said that Hyderabad's strong educational and skill training ecosystem is serving as the backbone to make it a knowledge hub and a major hub for engineering talent in the IT, Pharma, Defense and Aerospace sectors.
The city is already ranked as one of the leading global destinations for setting up Global Capability Centers (GCC) for Fortune-500 companies.
He also highlighted the world-class medical and healthcare facilities in Hyderabad, which attract a large number of people from different countries including the Middle East to avail cost-effective medical treatment.
He stressed that the state government is working on further strengthening Hyderabad's position as a global hub of skilled workforce and medical tourism.
Recalling the huge success of the Telangana Rising Global Summit 2025, the Chief Minister said that the event attracted global dignitaries, diplomats and industry leaders, marking an unprecedented economic and developmental success for the State.
He invited the South African leadership to participate in this year's global summit to be held in December 2026 to enable it to unlock vast transformational opportunities for businesses and industries on both sides.
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy also spoke about plans to build 30,000 acres of net-zero, global standard, greenfield infrastructure in Bharat Future City, located close to the international airport.
Telangana IT and Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu invited top industrialists from South Africa to explore opportunities and join the dialogue for mutual cooperation.
C. Damodar Raja Narasimha, Minister of Health, Medical and Family Welfare as well as Science and Technology, said Hyderabad is known globally for large-scale production of bulk medicines and vaccines.
He said, our (Congress) government is building a mega hospital in Hyderabad to cater to the health needs of our (Telangana) people.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice President of South Africa Paul Mashatile said that South Africa and India share a long history of experiences and cultural ties.
South Africa provides a platform from which Indian companies can enjoy preferential market access to the rest of Africa through the African Continental Free Trade Area, he said, adding that this paves the way for the establishment of pharmaceutical companies in South Africa.
The South African delegation included T. Moraka, Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation; Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to India, Ambassador A Sooklall; A. Motsoaledi, Minister of Health; S. Ndabeni, Minister of Small Business Development; Ann Jeena, Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation; M. Gungubele, Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Technology.
In the meeting Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao, Principal Secretary to CM V. Seshadri, Special Secretary to CM B. Ajith Reddy, Special Chief Secretary (Energy Department) Naveen Mittal, Health, Medical and Family Welfare Principal Secretary Christina Z Chongthu, Planning Secretary Gaurav Uppal, TGIIC Managing Director K. Shashank, ITE&C Joint Secretary D. Anudeep and other senior officials attended.