Asia

India's Modi in South Africa for trade, remembering Gandhi

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his arrival in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, July 7, 2016 on the second leg of his four-nation African visit. Modi will spend two days in South Africa. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell) (The Associated Press)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his arrival in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, July 7, 2016 on the second leg of his four-nation African visit. Modi will spend two days in South Africa. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell) (The Associated Press)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his arrival in Pretoria, South Africa, Thursday, July 7, 2016 on the second leg of his four-nation African visit. Modi will spend two days in South Africa. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell) (The Associated Press)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in South Africa today on the latest stop of a four-nation Africa tour to raise his country's economic profile on the continent.

Modi is expected to meet President Jacob Zuma on Friday and meet with members of South Africa's community of Indian origin, which numbers more than 1 million people.

Zuma's office says South Africa, which lists India as its sixth-largest trade partner, wants to strengthen those ties.

On Saturday, Modi is expected to take a train journey to commemorate Indian independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi. Gandhi's experience with racism while living and traveling in South Africa as a young man shaped his decision to resist racial segregation with nonviolent protest.

Modi has already visited Mozambique and also will travel to Tanzania and Kenya.