Foreign ministers from G20 countries will meet in Johannesburg on Thursday, but U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend amid diplomatic tensions between South Africa and the U.S. Diplomats including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will skip a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the leading rich and developing nations that starts on Thursday after criticizing host South Africa's policies as anti-American.
The absence of Secretary of State Marco Rubio hung over the year’s first high-level meeting of the world’s largest economies, with diplomats fretting over turbulent times.
Top diplomats from the Group of 20 major economies gathered in South Africa on Thursday and Friday for meetings focused on a packed global agenda, but these were overshadowed by the absence of the US's secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Rubio said he would also be skipping the main G20 summit in Johannesburg later this year due to South Africa's "DEI and climate change" frameworks