In the Middle East, Foreign Minister Schallenberg and his South African counterpart Pandor played a game of diplomatic ping-pong. But: “Actually, I like the minister.”
Pretoria. A diplomat must acquire basic knowledge on supposedly exotic topics, even for small talk at a business forum or at the opening of a cultural institute – for example, to have an idea of what a lineup in rugby is. This may have happened to Alexander Schallenberg in Pretoria, on the eve of a public holiday that President Cyril Ramaphosa specifically declared following South Africa's Rugby World Cup triumph in France at the end of October.
Friday's rugby holiday marks the start of the summer and Christmas holidays in the southern tip of Africa, and two ministers have canceled their meetings with the Austrian foreign minister at short notice. “This is Africa,” as long-time experts on the continent know. A chief diplomat also has to shrug it off with a certain indifference when her counterpart, South African Foreign Minister Grace Pandor, casually confuses Austria with Australia – a classic slip-up, especially in the English-speaking countries of the Global South. .