The Foreign Ministers of the United States, Australia, India, and Japan, in a meeting held in Atlanta, emphasized the effort to create reliable global supply chains and expressed serious concern over what they described as economic coercion through export restrictions and non-market practices.
Emphasis on Economic Security and Navigation Freedoms
This meeting took place ahead of the final session of the G20 Foreign Ministers, which includes China. The ministers declared their support for a free and open Indo-Pacific region and emphasized the importance of economic security in maintaining global stability and prosperity, including through reliable and open global supply chains.
Concerns About Maritime Chokepoints
The Foreign Ministers also stressed the absolute necessity of protecting and preserving navigation rights and freedoms in the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. This statement clearly reflects regional and international concerns regarding maritime security and its impact on global trade.
This was the third meeting of the Quad Foreign Ministers this year, and plans are now being made for the attendance of Donald Trump, the President of the United States, at the first official summit of the leaders of these four countries next month in Manila, on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations conference.
After this meeting, Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State, held the final session with the G20 Foreign Ministers during a two-day summit in Atlanta. In this session, the presence of Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Minister of Russia, highlighted the deep divides among G20 members.
Anita Anna, the Foreign Minister of Canada, emphasized in an interview that she personally was not willing to invite Lavrov, but seized the opportunity for a direct confrontation with him regarding Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. She explicitly told Lavrov that Russia's actions in this regard are completely illegal and contrary to international law and human rights.
Lavrov stated to reporters that Moscow's position on the Ukraine conflict has not changed and that Russia cannot accept Ukraine as a military threat to its legitimate security interests.
Rubio said at a ceremony at the Georgia Aquarium, "We must work together in the face of complex economic and geopolitical challenges. The future of our nations depends on our willingness to cooperate, even if our interests are not always aligned." He also hopes that the G20 Foreign Ministers can lay the groundwork for a successful leaders' summit on December 14 and 15 at Trump’s golf resort in Miami.
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