Energy, supply chains and risks to key shipping lanes were the focus of two days of G20 foreign ministers’ talks that wrapped up in Atlanta on Saturday.
The host country released a chair’s statement through the U.S. State Department saying the ministers covered energy security, supply chains and tensions around the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab. The U.S. holds the G20 presidency this year. It has tried to steer the group back to its core economic mission.
Energy took up much of the statement. It argued that no country can prosper without energy, and that governments too often drive up costs by blocking production.
The chair also promoted small modular and micro reactors as a way to keep up with rising electricity demand, though it acknowledged that nuclear power isn’t for everyone. Each country, the statement said, “is entitled to make its own sovereign choices.”
The statement described fertilizer, raw materials and critical minerals as essential. It called for more information sharing, more investment and closer work with private companies on processing, refining and recycling critical minerals.
This year’s global energy disruptions also came up. The chair said safe passage through international waterways is essential. It also said countries should agree that food trade shouldn’t be used to pressure one another.
On Ebola, the statement credited $2 billion raised at a September event in New York with spurring a more aggressive response to the outbreak.
The visit wasn’t all business. It gave delegates a chance to experience college football’s Georgia-Florida rivalry. Leaders meet next in Miami, and Britain takes over the G20 presidency in 2027.
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