LONDON, November 20. /TASS/. The United States’ refusal to participate in the upcoming summit of the Group of Twenty (G20) casts into doubt its future as a venue for coordinating global initiatives, the Financial Times reported.
A senior European diplomat taking part in summit preparations described the situation as "bleak." "There’s really nothing that we can hope to achieve without the Americans engaging," he said.
According to the British newspaper, the US boycott essentially wrecked negotiations on possible joint statements ahead of the summit and undermined what the British newspaper called already fragile points of potential convergence on climate change and the Ukraine conflict, among other issues.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social media platform that no US government official would attend this year’s G20 summit. Trump criticized holding the event in South Africa as a "total disgrace" as he said white people are being killed and slaughtered there.
Under South Africa’s presidency, Johannesburg will on November 22-23 host a meeting of G20 leaders. The agenda of the event will explore solidarity, equality and sustainability. South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa has signaled that one of his key goals would be to discuss strengthening the positions of the Global South in the world economy and global affairs at high-level meetings on the sidelines of the summit.