FRENCH Prime Minister Lionel Jospin arrived in Cape Town early on Thursday for a two-day official visit to South Africa that will see him hold talks with President Thabo Mbeki and his predecessor Nelson Mandela. Jospin was due to meet Mbeki in Cape Town on Thursday before addressing parliament and flying to the former prison colony of Robben Island where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in apartheid jails. His visit is the first by a French prime minister to South Africa and is expected to underline France’s new policy, largely instituted by Jospin since he took up his post in 1997, of spreading France’s ties beyond its former colonies in Africa and engaging with the continent as a whole. The new attitude towards Africa has been welcomed by South African government officials. Both France and South Africa are hoping that the visit will also help boost bilateral trade. Mbeki is also likely to ask France to support the Millenium African Recovery Programme (MAP) devised to promote peace, democracy and economic growth on the continent.