NEW DELHI (India Daily) -- India wants to extend its friendship to the African nation with PM Manmohan Singh's visit and South Africa realizes it is part of the new emerging super power block - BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa).

India and South Africa ready to plunge into an era of economic, strategic, nuclear and military cooperation.

According to media reports, Prime Minister Manomhan Singh's visit to South Africa signifies the close relationship between the countries which has been elevated to a strategic partnership, Minister of State for External Affairs, Anand Sharma, said.

"This visit has very special significance given the close relationship and understanding between India and South Africa and the very fact that the two countries have elevated their relationship to a strategic partnership," Sharma, who reached here on Saturday prior to Singh's arrival, said.

Pointing to the "close relations" between the Congress and the African National Congress during the days of the struggle against apartheid, Sharma said it was the first visit of the Prime Minister after a change of government in India in 2004.

Sharma said a number of initiatives had been taken to broaden and deepen the engagement between the two countries - focusing on specific areas where the two can share their strengths to help other countries in Africa.

"Over the last few months we have taken steps to energize the relationship and identified certain criteria - ranging from agriculture to space research, science and technology, energy, farming and biotech.

"For South Africa specifically we are concentrating on capacity-building and the building of skills for which various training projects have been undertaken," he said.