Johannesburg, South Africa – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s decision to skip the G20 foreign ministers meeting in South Africa on Thursday was not a “train smash” or a boycott, President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
Rubio announced earlier this month he would not attend the talks among top diplomats from the Group of 20, the world’s largest economies, because of the host government’s “anti-American” agenda.
“What has ensued now with the secretary of state not attending is, in the end, not a train smash,” Ramaphosa told reporters after he opened the two-day meeting attended by the foreign ministers of countries including Russia, China and India.
The United States was represented at the talks by the deputy chief of mission at the American embassy in Pretoria.
“So this is not a boycott,” Ramaphosa said.
South Africa, this year’s host of the G20’s rotating presidency, is in the crosshairs of the United States for leading a case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of “genocidal” acts in its Gaza offensive, which Israel has denied.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order cutting off financial support to the country, condemning land reforms aimed at redressing inequalities perpetrated during the apartheid era.
US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent announced on Thursday that he would also not attend the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Cape Town next week.
“The absence of some leaders is not the end of the world,” Ramaphosa said, adding he was confident that the diplomatic process would be able to “iron out wrinkles that may have appeared in our relationship”.
© Agence France-Presse
