Foreign ministers from the G20 top economies have gathered in South Africa’s Johannesburg, amid geopolitical rifts, tensions over the Ukraine war and with the top US diplomat a notable absentee.

The G20, a grouping of 19 countries as well as the European Union and the African Union that represent some 85 percent of global GDP and three-quarters of trade, is deeply divided on key issues from Russia’s war in Ukraine to climate change.

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South Africa, which currently holds the G20 presidency, opened the group’s first major meeting of the year on Thursday.

President Cyril Ramaphosa told G20 foreign ministers that multilateralism and international law were key to solving world crises, while sounding alarm about the group’s deepening divisions.

“It is critical that the principles of the UN Charter, multilateralism and international law should remain at the centre of all our endeavours. It should be the glue that keeps us together,” Ramaphosa said in his opening remarks.

“Yet there is a lack of consensus among major powers, including in the G20, on how to respond to these issues of global significance.”

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The strife was threatening “an already fragile global coexistence”, Ramaphosa said.

The United States did not attend after Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this month rejected as “very bad” the previously agreed agenda of “diversity, equity and inclusion”.

US President Donald Trump then cut aid to South Africa amid a dispute with the nation over its efforts to redress historical racial injustices in land ownership, and its genocide case against US ally Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did attend the meeting, alongside officials from EU nations that have pledged continued support for Ukraine and condemned Russia’s aggression.

Ukraine tensions

World leaders have been split on how to respond to the dramatic policy shifts from Washington since Trump returned to power last month, including a plan to secure a deal with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over Ukraine.

This has generated concern among European leaders and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has warned that Kyiv would not recognise any deal made without its involvement.

The shift in US policy has been accompanied by a war of words between Trump and Zelenskyy, after the Ukrainian leader challenged the US president, who suggested that Kyiv had started the war.

Against this backdrop, Ramaphosa reminded the attendees “that cooperation is our greatest strength.” “Let us seek to find common ground through constructive engagement,” he said.

“As the G20, we must continue to advocate for diplomatic solutions to conflicts,” he added, including those “raging in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the Sudan, in the Sahel and in Gaza [that] continue to exact heavy human toll and heighten global insecurity.”

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