Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says South Africa is confident it will find common ground with the United States through G20 Troika and bilateral engagements.

He was speaking to the media on the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Nasrec, Johannesburg, on Saturday.

Earlier, the G20 Johannesburg Leaders’ Declaration was officially adopted by consensus despite the US boycott.

Magwenya says, “I’ve indicated this a number of times throughout the year, the US was participating quite constructively in ministerial events and various sectors. American businesses are here in very large numbers during this summit. They participated in the B20 (Business 20) and so there are elements of the relationship that are functional, that are well managed.”

He adds, “So we shouldn’t confuse a bit of a diplomatic blip in Washington as an overall characterisation of your relationship…We just have some issues with some key players in Washington, which we are also looking at as a short-term issue. In the long run, this relationship long predated President (Donald) Trump, President (Cyril) Ramaphosa; it will outlive the two of them. So, we will find each other and we will continue to have a ‘confrontive’ relationship.”

UKRAINE-RUSSIA

About the Russia-Ukraine war, Magwenya says, “He’s (Ramaphosa) one of the few heads of state that travelled to both Ukraine and Russia, along with his African counterparts and colleagues under the auspices of the African initiative.”

“He’s been constantly engaged not only with Ukraine and Russia, with European leaders, even with the US. Even during President (Joe) Biden’s time, there was extensive discussion around the resolutions. So, the President will continue doing that. What the President cannot do is to appropriate to himself the sole exclusive role of being a peacemaker; what he can do is to continue to engage in dialogue with both parties, guiding, advising and giving input to both parties on how they can find each other in what seems to be an intractable conflict.”