South African President says Trump agreed to US attending G20 Summit

Johannesburg, May 26 (IANS) South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Monday that President Donald Trump had agreed that the United States should participate in the upcoming Group of 20 (G20) Summit scheduled for November in Johannesburg.

"President Trump agreed that the US should continue playing a key role in the G20, including attending the G20 Leaders' Summit in Johannesburg later this year, where South Africa will hand over the presidency of the G20 to the US," Ramaphosa wrote in his letter to the nation, following last week's visit to the United States.

Since Trump took office in January, the United States has boycotted some G20 meetings hosted by South Africa, including key gatherings of finance and foreign ministers earlier this year. US media recently reported that government agencies were even instructed to avoid G20-related work in South Africa.

In the newsletter, Ramaphosa acknowledged the recent diplomatic tensions between the two countries, attributing them largely to misinformation, Xinhua news agency reported. "Our visit came at a time when US-SA relations have come under increasing strain, largely as a result of misinformation peddled by fringe groups in our two countries, including a false narrative about a so-called genocide and an orchestrated campaign of violence against white farmers," he noted.

Despite mixed domestic reactions to the White House meeting, Ramaphosa described his US visit as a success and signaled that further engagements on trade matters would still follow. "One of the key outcomes of the substantive discussions we had with President Trump was agreement on an economic cooperation channel between the US administration and South Africa to engage further on tariffs and a broad range of trade matters," he said.

Emphasising that the two countries "have much to gain from working together," Ramaphosa also confirmed that he had extended an invitation to Trump to send a government and business delegation to South Africa "to explore opportunities for deepening investment and trade," but provided no specifics.

--IANS

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