World leaders attending a Group of 20 (G20) leaders’ summit in South Africa on Saturday adopted a declaration addressing global challenges despite opposition from the United States.
The move broke with protocol as declarations are typically adopted at the end of G20 summits.
In his opening remarks, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said: “We should not allow anything to diminish the value, the stature and the impact of the first African G20 presidency.”
This year’s summit has been overshadowed by President Donald Trump’s decision not to send a US delegation.
South African officials said Washington had put pressure on South Africa not to adopt a declaration in its absence.
While the world’s largest economy boycotted the summit, Ramaphosa argued that the G20 still played a key role in international cooperation.
“The G20 underscores the value of the relevance of multilateralism. It recognizes that the challenges that we face can only be resolved through cooperation, collaboration and partnership,” the summit’s host said.
G20 amid geopolitical crisis
Despite Ramaphosa’s optimism, French President Emmanuel Macron noted that “the G20 may be coming to the end of a cycle.”
“We are living in a moment of geopolitics in which we are struggling to resolve major crises together around this table, including with members who are not present today,” said Macron.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed with Macron’s warning.
“There’s no doubt, the road ahead is tough,” he said. “We need to find ways to play a constructive role again today in the face of the world challenges.”
Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who was attending the summit instead of President Xi Jinping, said “unilateralism and protectionism are rampant” and “many people are pondering what exactly is happening to global solidarity.”
What did G20 leaders agree on in the declaration?
The 122-point declaration demanded more global action to cope with climate change.
Endorsed on the same day that the COP30 talks ended in Brazil, leaders acknowledged that “investment and climate finance” need to be scaled up “from billions to trillions globally from all sources.”
The declaration also addressed the need to reform international financial systems to help low-income countries deal with their debt.
Its language on taxing the super-rich was weaker than in the previous G20 declaration in Rio de Janeiro, where leaders agreed for the first time “to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed.”
Leaders also urged for a “just, comprehensive, and lasting peace” in Ukraine, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the “Occupied Palestinian Territory” based on the UN Charter.
Although Ukraine appeared only once in the 30-page text, Western leaders at the summit scrambled on the sidelines to address a peace plan proposed by the US that would end the war in Ukraine on terms considered favorable to Russia.
Presidency handover ceremony to US unlikely
At the end of the summit, South Africa would normally hand over the rotating G20 presidency to its successor, this time the United States. That ceremonial transfer of leadership, however, is unlikely to occur.
A US embassy representative was scheduled to attend the handover ceremony, but Ramaphosa’s government called it an insult to transfer the presidency to a junior diplomatic official and said it would not happen.
South African presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya said, “It has never happened before and it was never going to happen here.”
The White House accused South Africa of undermining the principles of the G20 and the transfer ceremony of the summit it did not attend.
Edited by: Sean Sinico
