G20 meeting opens with call for 'cooperation'
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the keynote address at the opening of the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg. PHOTO: AFP
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa opened on Thursday a Group of 20 foreign ministers meeting – overshadowed by the absence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – with a call for "cooperation" amid geopolitical tensions and "rising intolerance".
Top diplomats from the world's largest economies gathered in Johannesburg for the two-day talks held for the first time in Africa. "It is critical that the principles of the UN Charter, multilateralism and international law should remain at the centre of all our endeavours," Ramaphosa said.
The G20, a group of 19 countries as well as the European Union and the African Union, is deeply divided on key issues from Russia's war in Ukraine to climate change. World leaders have also been split on how to respond to the dramatic policy shifts from Washington since the return of President Donald Trump.
"As the G20 we must continue to advocate for diplomatic solutions to conflicts," Ramaphosa said. "I think it is important that we should remember that cooperation is our greatest strength," he added. "Let us seek to find common ground through constructive engagement."
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