Top diplomats from the Group of 20 major economies will convene in South Africa on Thursday for a meeting dominated by a packed global agenda but overshadowed by a snub by the top US envoy, according to the Associated Press (AP).
As a curtain-raiser to the G20 summit in November, the foreign ministers will gather for talks over two days, held for the first time in Africa.
The meeting is set to start at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) with a keynote from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
South Africa, the first African country to lead the forum, took over the G20 presidency last year in a move meant to be an opportunity to get wealthy nations to listen to poorer counterparts.
The group currently consists of 19 countries, as well as the European Union and the African Union, making up more than 80 percent of global GDP and two-thirds of the world population.
But the group’s richest member, the United States, will skip the two-day talks after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he will not attend and accused Pretoria of an “anti-American” agenda.
Wars and conflicts in Africa and Europe would be common themes, Xolisa Mabhongo, South Africa’s Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said on Wednesday.
Yet, “the elephant in the room is the geopolitical context in which this meeting is taking place”, Priyal Singh, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, told AFP.
The talks come amid heightened tensions over the Russia-Ukraine conflict after US President Donald Trump appeared to blame Kyiv for the fact that Russia invaded it nearly three years ago.
Trump’s comments followed hours after talks between US and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia that Ukraine did not attend.
The “rift forming between the US and its European partners” has been laid bare, Singh said.
This risks “derailing” South Africa’s ability to push through a “common developmental agenda”, he added.
