South Africa wants much stronger diplomatic, bilateral and trade relations with the US, similar to those between South Africa and China, international relations and co-operation minister Ronald Lamola says.
South Africa has already taken steps to ensure better relations with the US, which is its biggest trading partner, he said.
“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 [department of international relations and co-operation] and the DTIC [department of trade, industry and competition] left the US with a positive outlook,” Lamola said.
The disproportionate funding of climate change on 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
— Ronald Lamola, international relations and co-operation minister
He was addressing what some critics have termed irreconcilable differences between South Africa and the US after the latter propagated a false narrative that South Africa 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 South Africa. We want to continue to engage to strengthen bilateral relations,” Lamola said.
He added the US had not raised any formal objection to South Africa's push for justice for Palestinians, after a year-long onslaught in Gaza by Israel in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
“It may be discussed but the G20, which South Africa 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 on 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.”
South Africa will use its permanent seat in the G20 to showcase Africa’s economic potential, Lamola said. He said South Africa was lobbying for reform of the UN Security Council so that Africa could have a louder voice on global conflicts.
Lamola has been in office for three months now and 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 South Africa's national interest. Economic diplomacy is the focal point. There is a big interest in future investments in South Africa and we are working hand in glove with the DTIC to try to achieve 2% economic growth by 2025.”
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