This weekend's G20 declaration shows a "renewed commitment to multilateral cooperation", South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday.
Ramaphosa, host of the Johannesburg summit, managed to secure agreement on a final text addressing issues such as the climate crisis, despite strong objections from the United States, which boycotted the gathering.
At the closing ceremony, he said the outcome demonstrated that world leaders’ “shared goals outweigh our differences”.
U.S. President Donald Trump skipped the 22–23 November summit, on the grounds of allegations, which have been comprehensively falsified, that the host country's Black majority government persecutes its white minority.
He had also rejected South Africa's agenda of helping developing nations transition to clean energy, reduce crippling debt costs and adapt to climate change-related disasters.
Despite Washington's opposition, Ramaphosa secured consensus from the leaders present, aside from Argentina, which did not block the declaration.
It was the first G20 summit held in Africa, and the final text used language long resisted by the U.S. administration. It highlighted the seriousness of climate change, the need for adaptation, praised ambitious renewable energy targets and criticised the heavy debt burdens facing poorer nations.
The summit took place as tensions over Russia’s conflict in Ukraine strain the transatlantic alliance, and shortly after a frustrating COP30 in Brazil, where oil-producing and high-consuming nations prevented any reference to fossil fuels in the final declaration.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said both the G20 and COP30 showed that multilateralism remains alive.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the United States “was mentioned only in passing” at the G20 summit, adding it played a minor role as new geopolitical connections emerge.
“It wasn’t a good decision for the American government to be absent,” he said.
The United States takes over the rotating G20 presidency after Johannesburg, but South Africa rejected a U.S. proposal to send an embassy official for the handover in Trump’s place, calling it a breach of protocol.
The White House accused Ramaphosa of refusing to facilitate a smooth transition, but South Africa’s Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said they had not received formal communication.
“We remain open … It’s up to them,” he said.
Lamola noted it was a major achievement that the declaration acknowledged the need for climate finance for developing countries.
Alongside the surprise agreement on the declaration, world leaders also discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Trump’s proposed plan to end it in a series of meetings expected to continue in the coming days.
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U.S. President Donald Trump has criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for continuing to target Russia's energy infrastructure, while Russian strikes on Kyiv overnight killed at least one person and damaged a metro station.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Norway for talks about the Russia-Ukraine war. He is expected to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who arrived in Oslo earlier. Witkoff will also meet European officials.
French President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the violence, looting and vandalism that erupted during cost-of-living protests across France. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu held crisis talks on Monday, calling for partial curfews and raising the possibility of a state of emergency.
An oil tanker caught fire after striking a naval mine in the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said late Sunday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said regional issues should be resolved through diplomacy and blamed the United States for insecurity and tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, speaking at a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday.
More than 150 people have been killed in a drone strike on a crowded market in the disputed Abyei region, South Sudanese officials said, marking one of the deadliest attacks linked to Sudan's civil war since it began in April 2023.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Norway for talks about the Russia-Ukraine war. He is expected to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who arrived in Oslo earlier. Witkoff will also meet European officials.
Beijing says it deployed naval forces to monitor a U.S. warship near Sabina Shoal, while Taiwan reports a separate confrontation with a Chinese coast guard vessel near the Pratas Islands.
Tensions are mounting across Asia, with North Korea warning of war, China clashing with the U.S. and the Philippines, and protests gathering pace in Indonesia and India. Military threats, diplomatic disputes and political unrest are fuelling uncertainty across the region.
Canada’s oil-rich province of Alberta voted to remain part of the country in a non-binding referendum on Monday, 19 October, CBC News reports, delivering a much-needed victory for Prime Minister Mark Carney amid an ongoing trade war with the United States.
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