Taoiseach Micheál Martin has insisted the G20 summit of the world’s most powerful nations in South Africa will have “concrete outcomes”, notwithstanding the decision by US president Donald Trump to boycott the event.
The Government has been invited by South Africa as a guest of the Johannesburg summit, the first time Ireland has participated.
Mr Trump had originally said his vice-president, JD Vance, would travel to the conference but later said the US would not participate. The US president has repeated discredited allegations that white South Africans are being persecuted and murdered in their hundreds as the reason.
Speaking to reporters shortly after arriving in Johannesburg, Mr Martin said he was confident there would be a positive outcome.
RM Block
“I do believe there will be a declaration, or a statement, at the end of the summit which will be quite substantial, which will cover a wide range of issues and areas where progress has been made,” he said.
[ What is Donald Trump's problem with South Africa? Opens in new window ]
The Taoiseach added that there had been many constructive inputs made by Ireland, and it had contributed to some key agenda items including development, a key issue for African states. It is the first G20 to be held on the African continent.
“I will be meeting with the African Development Bank today and with the African Union. I do believe there will be concrete outcomes from this,” he said.
Asked for his views on the allegations of race crime against white people made by the US president, Mr Martin pointed to the strong rebuttal of the South African government, including by its president, Cyril Ramaphosa, during his visit to the White House last May.
“The South African government would deny the assertions that have been made,“ he said. ”We again work constructively with the South African government on a range of issues. And I did note the meeting in the White House this year where I think the assertions that were made were contested robustly [by president Ramaphosa].”
Mr Martin was also asked about the American proposal for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine that would require Ukraine to cede some strategic territory.
He said he would have a chance to discuss the issue with leading members of the Coalition of the Willing – including UK prime minister Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron and president of the European Council, Antonio Costa – during the G20.
“What’s extremely important is that the Ukrainian position and its future security guarantees are solid. The territory [question] is also crucial,” he said.
“It can’t really concede any territory that hasn’t been conquered by Russia despite a military campaign of so many years.”
He said it would be “unthinkable” that pressure could be brought to bear to cede territory had had been successfully defended against Russian aggression.
“The people of those areas want to live in a democracy, not in an autocracy, where the basic rights of citizens are suppressed,” he said. “This is the real issue. Ukrainians want to belong to Europe. They see what life can be lived and they certainly don’t want to go into a Russian authoritarian state.”
