Joe Biden-Cyril Ramaphosa, a meeting to overcome differences
US President Joe Biden (left) and his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa (right), during a G7 meeting in Cornwall, England, June 12, 2021. AP - Leon Neal
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The South African president will be received by his American counterpart this Friday, September 16 at the White House.
Washington and Pretoria want to revive their bilateral relations after the Trump years and despite their differences, especially on the war in Ukraine.
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With our correspondent in Johannesburg,
Romain Chanson
When the United States speaks with South Africa, it is also
the African continent
that they are addressing.
Joe Biden and Cyril Ramaphosa should therefore discuss, during their scheduled interview at the White House this Friday, September 16, the angry subjects in Africa.
On the agenda therefore: climate change and support for the energy transition, the threat of Islamic terrorism in northern Mozambique, food insecurity caused by the war in Ukraine, and of course the war in Ukraine itself.
South Africa maintains a
position of non-alignment
in total opposition to the condemnations of the Americans against Russia.
#AMCEN is one of this continent's premier organizations for action and implementation.
Our challenges are too big for any one nation — or group of nations — to solve alone.
17 of the world's 20 most climate vulnerable countries are on this continent.
(1/6) pic.twitter.com/rN9ppJfb5N
— Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry (@ClimateEnvoy) September 15, 2022
But common economic interests outweigh differences.
The United States is South Africa's third largest trading partner, after China and the European Union.
Weighed down by mass unemployment and weakened by two and a half years of Covid-19, South Africa must take care of its relations.
After having distinguished himself by denouncing the
“
vaccine apartheid
”
of which African countries would be victims, Cyril Ramaphosa could call not to leave aside the economies of the continent, which have suffered from the pandemic.
Accustomed to the G7, the South African president should, once again, play his role as ambassador for Africa.
► To read also: South Africa shocked by remarks attributed to President Trump on Nelson Mandela
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South Africa
United States
Cyril Ramaphosa
Joe Biden