South African president plans to hold talks with G7 leaders

Alsharq Tribune-M-Essam 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday that he is planning to hold bilateral meetings with several Group of Seven (G7) counterparts, including U.S. President Donald Trump, during the upcoming G7 summit.

"I'm hoping that when we meet the various other leaders of various countries who are part of the G7, we'll be able to interact meaningfully with them. I'm going to have bilaterals with the chancellor of Germany, with the prime minister of Canada, and of course, I will also be meeting President Trump, who we met at the White House," he said.

Speaking to the media in Pretoria, Ramaphosa once again described his recent White House visit as a success, despite criticism surrounding allegations of an unfounded "white genocide."

He said that the main objectives of the visit were to reset relationships between the two countries and focus on trade issues. "It's important for us to reposition ourselves in the turbulent geopolitical architecture," he stated.

South Africa was among the countries affected by the United States' trade tariffs. Ramaphosa told reporters that discussions on trade were ongoing, and "those engagements are taking place."

Ramaphosa said he was invited by Canada and the meeting of the G7 was a perfect opportunity for South Africa to "propagate" its G20 message "and how we want to see great outcomes out of the G20."

"We're going to use it (the G7 summit) as a platform to begin to consolidate what we want to achieve in November when the (G20) Leaders' Summit takes place here, so it's a great opportunity and we're hoping that there will be good outcomes out of it," Ramaphosa noted.