Rubio: G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta focused on energy security and supply chains

Outcomes of the Atlanta meeting

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta was devoted to strengthening global energy security, securing supplies of critical minerals, and the vulnerabilities of international supply chains amid rising geopolitical tensions. According to him, Washington sought to return the G20 to its original economic mission and focus on practical tasks. «This week in Atlanta we focused on key economic, energy, technology and supply chain issues, and we discussed practical solutions and real results,» Rubio was quoted as saying by the Anadolu agency.

Minerals, shipping and the Quad

Rubio emphasized the importance of access to critical minerals needed for advanced technologies, warning that supply chain disruptions could affect economic growth and everyday costs. A separate topic was freedom of navigation and attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and other strategic waterways: in his assessment, threats to maritime routes can disrupt supplies of energy resources, fertilizers and agricultural products and create risks to food security. He also noted that the participating countries share an understanding of the problems, although disagreements over ways to solve them persist: «We all agree that there is a problem, but clearly there is work ahead to jointly reach agreement on solutions.» Cooperation within the Quad grouping (the US, India, Japan, Australia) was also discussed — in the areas of critical minerals, infrastructure and maritime security.