SA wants much stronger diplomatic, bilateral and trade relations with the US, similar to those between SA and China, which is currently its biggest trading partner, international relations and co-operation (Dirco) minister Ronald Lamola says.
SA has already taken steps to ensure better relations with the US. “We have already made the proposal to the US state department and Congress. We have proposed an annual type of engagement instead of only engaging when there is a controversy. Both Dirco and the DTIC (department of trade, industry and competition) left the US with a positive outlook,” Lamola said.
He was addressing what some critics have termed irreconcilable differences between SA and the US after the latter propagated a false narrative that SA was supplying Russia with weapons to fuel that country’s invasion of Ukraine.
“It did a lot of damage but we have acted in good faith and there are now consistent engagements with the US ambassador to SA. We want to continue to engage to strengthen bilateral relations,” Lamola said.
He added the US had not raised any formal objection to SA’s push for justice for Palestinians, after a year-long onslaught in Gaza by Israel in response to Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.
“It maybe discussed but the G20, which SA is hosting, is not the platform to push that agenda. We are pushing African economic diplomacy in that meeting. The African agenda is centred on ending economic development, the African Continental Free Trade Area, climate change mitigation and reform of global finance organisations,” Lamola told Business Day.
“The disproportionate funding of climate change in the continent should be mitigated and all African countries should speak in one voice that there must be more funding for us to be able to respond to this unmitigated disaster of climate change,” Lamola added.
SA will use its permanent seat in the G20 to showcase Africa’s economic potential, Lamola said. He said SA was lobbying for reform of the UN Security Council so that Africa could have a louder voice on global conflicts.
Lamola has been in the office for three months now and he says his approach will only be aggressive on economic diplomacy that is in the national interest.
“We will have to be engaging. We will be doing so in SA’s national interest. Economic diplomacy is the focal point. There is a big interest in future investments in SA and we are working hand in glove with the DTIC to try to achieve 2% economic growth in SA by 2025,” Lamola said.
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