G20 foreign ministers end Atlanta meeting without joint communique as Rubio says no 'universally accepted solutions' are close

Foreign ministers of the Group of 20 major economies ended two days of talks in Atlanta on Saturday 31 October without agreeing a joint communique, the Associated Press reported. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who hosted the meeting under the US G20 presidency, said he would release a chairman’s statement summarising the talks later on Saturday.

“I wouldn’t pretend to you today that we are close to finding universally accepted solutions to these problems,” Rubio told reporters at a closing news conference. He added that some G20 countries were “working together to solve some of them, particularly in the realm of supply chains and critical minerals.”

The final session, on supply chains, covered freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red, Black and South China seas, AP reported. In a post on X, Rubio said “critical trade routes including the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb Strait must remain secure and open to commerce.”

Diplomats who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity said a chairman’s statement had long been planned because of deep differences, including over the Russia-Ukraine war, the US-Israeli war against Iran, US tariffs, Chinese actions in the South China Sea and the US decision not to invite South Africa. They said Russia’s position on Ukraine was unyielding, as was its opposition to Poland’s participation.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, attending as a guest, said: “We have wars going on, and we have participants in those wars around the table, so it’s very difficult to agree on a common line.”

Rubio said he hoped the meeting would lay the groundwork for the G20 leaders’ summit on 14-15 December at Trump’s Doral resort near Miami, Reuters reported.