South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday opened the two-day G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Johannesburg, the largest city and economic hub of South Africa, where he called for multilateralism and the application of international law in resolving world crises.

Foreign ministers from G20 countries will meet in Johannesburg on Thursday, but U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend amid diplomatic tensions between South Africa and the U.S. Diplomats including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

South Africa's G20 presidency was meant to be an opportunity to get rich, powerful nations to pay attention to poorer countries' concerns such as burgeoning inequality, crippling sovereign debt and a lack of progress in the fight against climate change.