By Lebo Diseko, BBC News
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor have both stressed the historic ties between their two countries, ahead of bi-lateral talks in Pretoria.
Mr Blinken and Ms Pandor also highlighted the importance of their co-operation in areas such as trade and investment, health and science. But the elephant in the room was the war in Ukraine.
Relations between the two countries have been strained by their differing positions on Russia’s invasion: South Africa has remained neutral in the Ukraine war, refusing to join Western calls to condemn Moscow.
While neither mentioned it explicitly, Ms Pandor did state that the world is “going through an extraordinarily difficult period” – listing conflict as one of the challenges.
She also said that diplomatic efforts were necessary in order to resolve the conflict.
The foreign minister also acknowledged that she and Mr Blinken had had “very frank discussions where at times we don’t agree – but it has not broken this friendship”, she said. “In fact it has made it stronger.”
Mr Blinken said he was “grateful” to Ms Pandor for helping him to “look at things in a different way”, and called their current position an “ongoing conversation”.
He is set to announce a new US strategy for Africa later on Monday, as the US tries to counter the influence of China and Russia on the continent.
