Top finance ministers snub G20 as global co-operation comes under strain

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Finance ministers are preparing from many of the world’s largest economies to overcome the G20 meetings in South Africa this week, which confirms the importance of the body at a time when global cooperation stumbles.
Among the countries that are not expected to send the financing ministers to Cape Town are India, China, Brazil and Mexico, according to people familiar with the organizing of the meetings.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Besense said last week that he would remain in Washington – a step that followed Marco Rubio decision To not “waste taxpayer money or anti -America” by attending a meeting of a group of 20 foreign ministers in South Africa last week.
Officials said that Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobo Kato will remain in Tokyo to focus on state budget talks, while the European Union Commissioner of the European Union is expected to remain the Valdes Dumbrovscez in Brussels.
the G20 He has fought for importance in recent years, as competition between the United States and China has deepened, and members have been divided into response to the full invasion of Russia for Ukraine.


Analysts have warned that poor turnout would make more doubts about global cooperation mechanisms at a time when US President Donald Trump is called the major aspects of the international regime after the war.
Mark Sobil, the US President of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum and a former US Treasury official, said that the Group of Twenty was “clearly in a very weak condition”, although he argued that Pesin’s decision not to attend the meetings was “big” mistake.
Lesetja Kganyago, head of the South African Reserve Bank, who will chair a meeting of the central bankers, reduce the lack of attendees, and insists that all members of the Group of Twenty will be represented in the meetings, even if some of the financial ministers are not physically attended.
“Any decision comes out of here is a decision of the group of twenties,” Kanigo told the Financial Times.
US Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell is expected to attend meetings with central bankers from a group of other countries, including Christine Lagarde from the European Central Bank.
Some European financing ministers are also expected to take the trip, including UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
The impact of the declined G20 contrasts for a decade and a half, when it helped the body regulate the response to the global financial crisis.

The absence of Bessent and Rubio also follows a fierce attack by Trump on South Africa, which he accused of “land confiscation, and the treatment of some groups of people very badly,” citing a new law of land confiscation.
The opening of the meetings on Wednesday, South African President Cyril Ramavusa said, “The erosion of pluralism represents a threat to global growth and stability.” “The multilateral cooperation is our only hope for overcoming unprecedented challenges,” he said, adding that one of the tasks of the Group of Twenty this year was “formulating consensus” as required to build a flexible global economy.
Last week, the foreign ministers meeting ended without any joint statement, with a mere summary of the talks that were issued.
At this week’s meeting at Cape Town The B20 – Business Movement in Group of Twenty – the absence of the United States was the focus of discussion.
CAS COOVADIA, former head of the South African business room, said, even if the US government from the Group of Twenties, companies from the country will continue to cooperate.
He said: “Our counterparts in the United States, the American Chamber of Commerce, reassured us that the commitment of American companies in B20 is still, despite politics.”
“We will continue to deal with each other long after the Trump administration leaves,” said Nonkululeko Nyembezi, head of the country’s largest bank, Standard.
The ministerial meetings are designed to collect proposals, which will be fed to the leaders of the G20 countries, who will meet in November in South Africa. It is not clear whether Trump will attend.
Additional reports by Paula Tama in Brussels, John Reed in New Delhi and Michael Boller in Sao Paulo
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2025-02-26 05:00:00