On Friday and Saturday, 30–31 October, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosts G20 foreign ministers in Atlanta. Poland’s foreign minister Radosław Sikorski and Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will sit at the same table.
- Where and when: Atlanta, Georgia, 30–31 October 2026 – the first G20 meeting at this level in the city.
- Agenda: international cooperation, the global economy, open markets and resilient supply chains.
- Why it matters: the meeting prepares the G20 leaders’ summit in Miami (Trump National Doral) on 14–15 December, in the year of America’s 250th anniversary.
- Poland: the US has put it on this year’s list of G20 participants (g20.org), in place of South Africa. Washington wants Poland to stay in the group permanently.
- Russia: on 28 October Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced that Lavrov will lead the delegation. Visa issues, she said, were resolved “at the last minute”. Lavrov has been under US sanctions since 2022.
- Sikorski: said he would go to Atlanta even if Russia attends. He holds a press conference at Warsaw-Okęcie airport at noon on 29 October before departure.
Poland and Russia at one table
Since 2022 Lavrov has rarely travelled to the West. Now he is flying to the US, and the Americans have also invited Vladimir Putin to the December summit in Miami. The Kremlin has not yet decided. Volodymyr Zelensky said that if Ukraine is invited, it will send top-level representation. According to money.pl, President Karol Nawrocki intends to go to Miami, although Warsaw received the invitation to Putin with reluctance.
For Poland this is an unusual situation: a country on NATO’s front line sits among the world’s largest economies, facing a representative of the state waging war in Ukraine.
The G20 in numbers
The G20 is 19 countries, the European Union and the African Union. Together they produce around 85% of global GDP. After the US, in 2027, the presidency passes to the United Kingdom.
US priorities for the G20
According to the official site g20.org, the US presidency focuses on three things: economic prosperity through less regulation, affordable and secure energy supply chains, and innovation in artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. Four working groups deal with them: growth and deregulation, innovation, energy, and trade. Besides the 19 countries, the US has invited 12 more, including Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland and Ireland.
Atlanta in brief
The capital of Georgia, with about 530,000 residents and more than 6.4 million in the metropolitan area. The city was founded in 1837 as Terminus – the end of a railway line – and is still a transport hub: Hartsfield-Jackson is the world’s busiest airport. In 1864, during the Civil War, Atlanta was almost entirely burned. In the 1950s and 1960s it was a centre of the civil rights movement – Martin Luther King Jr. was born here. It hosted the 1996 Olympic Games. Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines and The Home Depot have their headquarters here, and CNN is closely associated with the city.
What it means for you
If Poland joins the G20 permanently, its voice will be heard where decisions on trade, digital taxes, supply chains and sanctions are made. For Poles in the UK, 2027 matters: the United Kingdom will chair the G20, and Poland is seeking an invitation then too. For Polish businesses in Britain, it is a sign that Poland is becoming a partner in economic talks, not only on security.
Our assessment
This will be a difficult meeting. Poland arrives as a guest that wants to stay, and Russia as a sanctioned state that the Americans have nonetheless let in. Sikorski has two tasks: to show that Poland is a serious economic partner, and to make sure talks on Ukraine do not take place over Europeans’ heads. The real test comes in December in Miami, when we will see whether the US writes Poland into the final declaration.
What to do
- Follow Polish foreign ministry announcements at gov.pl/web/dyplomacja (in Polish).
- Official State Department information on Rubio’s trip: state.gov.
- Announcements from the Polish Embassy in London: gov.pl/web/wielkabrytania (in Polish).
Sources: gov.pl – Deputy PM Radosław Sikorski to attend the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta; U.S. Department of State; money.pl (28.10.2026); Yahoo News / European Pravda (28.10.2026); Atlanta News First; Deccan Herald; Notes from Poland; Wikipedia – Atlanta.
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