ISTANBUL 

South Africa’s foreign policy will be guided by human rights and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, its top diplomat Ronald Lamola told his US counterpart Antony Blinken.

Calling for stronger bilateral relations with the US, Foreign Minister Lamola told Secretary of State Blinken on Thursday that South Africa is celebrating 30 years of democracy as well as "shared values" with the US.

South Africa is a "constitutional democracy, (with) free and fair elections, and we have just emerged from them with about 10 political parties that have agreed to form a government of national unity with the priority to resolve the triple challenges of South Africa: unemployment, inequality, and poverty,” said Lamola.

It was Lamola’s first face-to-face meeting with his US counterpart since being appointed in July. They met on the sidelines of the 79 UN General Assembly in New York, according to a US State Department readout of the meeting.

“And our foreign policy will continue to be guided by human rights, constitutional principles, the national interest, solidarity and peaceful resolution of conflicts,” Lamola told Blinken ahead of their closed-door talk.

The meeting came amid reports that Israeli diplomats are lobbying US lawmakers to pressure South Africa into dropping its genocide case against Tel Aviv at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

After Lamola’s appointment, Blinken called him to offer congratulations, and they also discussed Russia’s war on Ukraine as well as Israel’s war on Gaza.

South Africa last December took Israel to the ICJ over its indiscriminate bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 41,500 people since last October.

In his opening remarks, Blinken said his meeting with Lamola was to take stock of the “extraordinary and important partnership between South Africa and the United States, a partnership that works on a bilateral basis, a regional basis, and indeed a global basis.

After their meeting, Lamola said he and Blinken had a “constructive engagement.”

“Our relationship is dynamic and constantly evolving,” he added.