Agency’s Report
The G20 summit wrapped up in Johannesburg on Sunday, though formalities were not done for South Africa to hand over the rotating presidency to the US.
The G20 summit in South Africa, a gathering of the world’s major economies, has ended with a joint declaration committing to “multilateral co-operation”.
The declaration, which covered climate change mitigation and economic inequality, was adopted despite objections from the US, which boycotted the meeting in Johannesburg.
It was the first time a G20 summit was held in Africa. Indonesia, India and Brazil have led the summit over the past three years.
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American President Donald Trump chose to abstain from the G20 because of a widely discredited claim that South Africa’s white minority is the victim of large-scale killings and land grabs.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa formally closed the G20 summit, handing over the presidency to the US, “where we shall see each other again next year.”
Speaking earlier at the closing ceremony on Sunday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, had said the agreement showed “shared goals” outweighed the countries’ differences.
He said South Africa used its G20 presidency to place the priorities of Africa and the Global South at the center of the agenda, building on the developmental focus of previous presidencies in Indonesia, India and Brazil.
Ramaphosa said South Africa is “truly honored and humbled” to host the G20, the first time the summit has been held on African soil, describing the occasion as significant not only for South Africans, but all Africans.
“Recognizing the importance of this milestone, we have sought to place Africa’s growth and development interests at the heart of the G20’s agenda,” he said, adding that “the greatest opportunity for prosperity in the 21st century lies in Africa.”
The South African leader said harnessing this opportunity would depend on strong partnerships between Africa and the G20, as well as with the wider world, and highlighted the interconnectedness of nations.
He said the summit declaration goes beyond words, committing to concrete actions that benefit people worldwide and demonstrating the forum’s value in facilitating joint action on issues of shared concern.
The U.S. would take over as G20 president for 2026 — and says it will host its summit at President Donald Trump’s golf club in Doral, Florida.
But South Africa insisted that a traditional handover ceremony at the end of this summit likely won’t happen because the U.S. only wanted to send a diplomatic official from its embassy, calling it an insult to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said “it didn’t matter much” that Trump had not attended, adding that multilateralism was “more alive than ever”.
German Chancellor Fredriech Merz said it had not been a “good decision” for the US to abstain.
He told Reuters news agency that what he had noted at the G20 was that “the world is currently undergoing a realignment and that new connections are being formed.”
The leaders on Saturday pledged in the declaration to work for a “just, comprehensive and lasting” peace in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Palestinian territories, and Ukraine, condemning terrorism in “all its forms and manifestations.”
– US absence in leaders’ summit
The summit started Saturday without a US presence, despite the country being South Africa’s successor in the G20 presidency, which normally requires a handover ceremony.
Earlier this week, Ramaphosa had said there could be a “change of mind” from the US side and that discussions were underway, a claim that was immediately denied by the White House.
South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola, addressing a news conference on the sidelines of the summit on Saturday, said the US wanted to implement the handover through the charge d’affaires of its embassy in South Africa.
He explained that the handover must happen at the head of state level, or at least a minister who “is properly designated by the president of the United States of America.”
“So now that they have assigned a charge, we’ve said DIRCO has equivalent officials of the charge, hence … we will do the handover… at DIRCO offices anytime from Monday,” he said.
Earlier this month, Trump announced that he would not send an American official to Johannesburg for the meeting, accusing South Africa of “human rights abuses” against the white Afrikaner population – claims the South African government has repeatedly rejected as unfounded.
Relations between Washington and Pretoria have plunged to their lowest over disagreements on both foreign and domestic policies.
