South Africa declares G20 summit a win for multilateralism

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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