A bipartisan group is demanding that Pretoria be prevented from hosting a US-Africa trade forum, over its ties to Russia
Four American lawmakers say they are “seriously concerned” that South Africa is set to host a planned US-Africa trade summit later this year and are urging the White House to move it to another country, citing Pretoria’s “deepening” ties with Moscow.
The bipartisan group sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and two other senior officials, which was published by The New York Times on Monday.
“We are seriously concerned that hosting the 2023 AGOA Forum in South Africa would serve as an implicit endorsement of South Africa’s damaging support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and possible violation of US sanctions law,” the lawmakers said in the June 9 letter.
Pretoria is set to host the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum in Johannesburg, a flagship American trade initiative. The gathering…
