Any change to the group\u2019s membership requires consensus among all members, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said<\/p>\n
BRICS countries have rejected any arbitrary attempt by the US to exclude South Africa from the G20, reaffirming its status as a founding and full member of the group.
\nThe US, which holds this year\u2019s G20 presidency, has barred South Africa from the group\u2019s meetings and has not invited it to the leaders\u2019 summit in Miami in December.
\nIn a declaration adopted at their summit in New Delhi on Saturday, BRICS leaders described any arbitrary revision of the G20\u2019s membership as \u201cinadmissible.\u201d\u00a0The declaration said any membership change requires the consensus of all G20 members and should reflect geographical balance and the growing economic weight of the Global South.<\/p>\n
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Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said the statement addressed the \u201cunilateral, politically motivated attempts\u201d to sideline South Africa, African Initiative reported.
\nUS President Donald Trump announced the exclusion of South Africa after boycotting the G20 summit in Johannesburg last November. He accused the South African government of mistreating the country\u2019s white minority and unlawfully confiscating land \u2013 allegations which Pretoria has denied.
\nRelations between the two countries have been strained over South Africa\u2019s land reform policies, its alleged close ties with Russia and China, and its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.<\/p>\n
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Washington suspended aid to Pretoria last year and established a program to resettle Afrikaners and other members of South Africa\u2019s white minority as refugees in the US.<\/p>\n
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The Trump administration also imposed a 30% tariff on most South African imports. Pretoria has made several efforts to secure a reduction, including submitting a revised trade proposal, but the talks have produced no negotiated tariff relief, and Washington has since increased pressure on the country.
\nOn Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new visa restrictions targeting South African officials and other foreign nationals who the administration accuses of enacting or enabling \u201crace-based discrimination\u201d, \u201cuncompensated land seizures\u201d, and incitement to violence against minority groups.
\nPretoria condemned the measure as a unilateral act based on a misrepresentation of its domestic policies. \u201cIt is our sovereign right to put in place laws that address the nation\u2019s concern over centuries of racial injustice,\u201d the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Any change to the group\u2019s membership requires consensus among all members, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said BRICS countries have rejected any arbitrary attempt by the US to exclude…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t