Mandela expressed the view to a high-powered Congress delegation led by senior Congress leader, N D Tiwari, visiting South Africa to cultivate party to party relationship between African National Congress (ANC) and Indian National Congress.

Tiwari told reporters here that Mandela recalled the historic bond between the people of India and South Africa and ``proposes to visit India in near future before leaving the office of the President''.

The delegation at ANC's invitation held wide-ranging discussions with several party leaders including Nelson Mandela and his deputy Thabo Mbeki and an elder statesman of the party, Walter Sisulu, who was imprisoned along with Mandela.

Other members of the delegation included AICC general secretaries Pranab Mukherjee and Ambika Soni, former Youth Congress president, Anand Sharma, and former MP, T Bashir. They visited South Africa between January 21 to27.