Washington, May 21, (dpa/GNA) – US President Donald Trump has kept his participation in this year’s G20 summit in South Africa open due to political disagreements with the host.
He said on Wednesday it was important for the US to be present at both the Group of Seven (G7) meeting of major industrialized nations and the wider Group of 20 (G20) summit, in response to a reporter’s question about whether he would travel to Johannesburg in November.
However, Trump did not give a clear commitment to his participation during the visit by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to the White House.
The summit of the 20 leading industrialized and emerging countries is scheduled to take place in November in the South African metropolis of Johannesburg. The group includes 19 countries, the European Union and the African Union.
Trump added that the meeting would not be very important without the US as a participant. The G20 would not be the same meeting, according to the US president. He had hinted in April that he might boycott the summit in November. His statements on Wednesday did not sound quite so drastic.
Ramaphosa emphasized that it was important for the US to continue to play a key role within the G20 group.
Trump accuses South Africa, among other things, of committing a “genocide” against white farmers. Experts and South Africa’s government strongly dispute the portrayal of an alleged genocide.
Recently, the US accepted a first group of white South Africans and granted them refugee status. In early February, Trump had already frozen aid to South Africa. In March, the US also expelled the South African ambassador.
Shortly before Trump’s meeting with Ramaphosa, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a hearing in the US Senate that the US government had decided not to participate in this year’s G20 summit in South Africa – neither at the level of foreign ministers nor at the level of the president.
Rubio himself had stayed away from the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in February.
GNA
PDC