A person walks past a sign during a meeting of the G20 foreign ministers, in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Feb. 20.Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
Mounting global distrust and geopolitical divisions are damaging the world’s efforts to tackle the urgent issues of poverty and climate change, G20 foreign ministers have warned.
The worsening disputes have contributed to “a climate of distrust” that threatens to unravel progress on pressing challenges such as poverty, pandemics, nuclear proliferation and armed conflict, the ministers from the Group of 20 countries said in their closing statement in Johannesburg on Friday.
The growing friction among world leaders was visible at the G20 itself this week as the United States refused to send its top diplomat to the meetings, while tensions flared between Russia and Western governments over the Ukraine war.
The foreign ministers did not even manage to hold their traditional “family photo” during the two-day meetings in Johannesburg, even though organizers had arranged a place for it. Media reports said the photo event was cancelled because some leaders were unwilling to be photographed with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
South Africa, the host country, denied the reports. “We did set up the place for it, but when the time ran out, there was no real pressure to have it, so we didn’t have it,” said Zane Dangor, director-general of South Africa’s international relations department.
Mr. Lavrov, in his speeches to the G20 meetings, accused the West of trying to dominate the world by imposing neo-colonialism and “white supremacy” on the Global South.
This led to a sharp response from British foreign secretary David Lammy, who complained of “tired fabrications” by the Russian minister. He noted that Mr. Lavrov had walked out of the meeting room when the British minister spoke.
“Russia has learned nothing,” Mr. Lammy told the ministers. “I was hoping to hear some sympathy for the innocent victims of the aggression. I was hoping to hear some readiness to seek a durable peace. What I heard was the logic of imperialism dressed up as a realpolitik, and I say to you all, we should not be surprised, but neither should we be fooled.”
South Africa, traditionally a close friend of Moscow, criticized the Russian and U.S. governments for holding a negotiating session on the Ukraine war in Saudi Arabia this week without allowing any Ukrainian officials to attend.
“Any peace negotiation process should be inclusive, and that inclusiveness should then include Ukraine, very clearly,” Mr. Dangor told journalists. “If you’re going to have anything lasting, it should include all the parties involved.”
Mr. Dangor also made it clear that South Africa would be legally required to enforce an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin, issued by the International Criminal Court, if Mr. Putin tried to attend the G20 summit in South Africa later this year.
In his official summary of the meetings on behalf of the G20 ministers, South African foreign minister Ronald Lamola cited the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among others. There was “major concern” about the damage to health and education caused by these wars, and there was agreement to support “all efforts towards a just peace,” he said.
Later, speaking to journalists, Mr. Lamola described the meetings as “extremely robust” but insisted that progress was made.
Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he would not attend the G20 meetings because South Africa was promoting diversity, equity and other “very bad things” during its presidency of the group this year.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his speech to the G20 ministers, acknowledged the “lack of consensus” among the world’s major powers.
“Geopolitical tensions, rising intolerance, conflict and war, climate change, pandemics and energy and food insecurity threaten an already fragile global co-existence,” he said.