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DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA, May 30, 2004: A group of Tamil businessmen and members of the South African Tamil Federation left for Reunion on Friday on a week-long cultural exchange program. The 14-member delegation are also due to meet with Reunion President Paul Verges. The head of the Natal Tamil Federation, Bala Naidoo, who is heading the delegation, said the aim of the visit was to exchange views on language, culture, religion and business. Naidoo said the Tamil community in Reunion had expressed an interest in learning more about the “thriving Tamil community in South Africa” after the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Arts and Culture had staged an exhibition there recently. “A group from the Reunion islands then attended our very successful Tamil celebrations last month, which attracted about 18,000 people,” said Naidoo. “They were very impressed by the way we preserve our culture, as well as the positive input from our government.” He said they would be visiting temples and religious organizations.



“Once we have a better idea of how their culture operates, we will meet with the president and give our input on how best we can assist the Tamils there. At least 48% of that population is made up of Tamils.” SA Tamil Federation president Mickey Chetty said the role of the federation was to interact with Tamils all over the world. “We’ve already established contacts in Malaysia, Singapore and Botswana and have set our sights on Africa and Mauritius,” he said. “We are hoping that a spin-off from this visit will be a student cultural exchange programme.” Chetty said local businessmen Rajen Reddy, Morgan Govender and Esay Reddy would be meeting a high-powered business group in Reunion to discuss opportunities between the countries.

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