US President George W Bush will try to boost US trade ties with South Africa today in talks expected to promote Pretoria's role as regional power while playing down differences over the war in Iraq.
The US president is also set to urge greater efforts to promote free elections and economic reforms in neighbouring Zimbabwe during talks with his host, South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Mr Bush arrived in South Africa late yesterday from Senegal, where he told West African leaders he would help to end Liberia's civil war but that he had not yet decided on sending peacekeeping troops there.
After an official welcome in Pretoria on this morning, Mr Bush, flanked by Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Ms Condoleezza Rice met Mr Mbeki and his top aides.
The differences between Washington and Pretoria over Zimbabwe are stark. The United States is pushing the troubled southern African state's neighbours to pressure President Robert Mugabe to reform, but South Africa thus far has resisted.