The first Group of 20 summit in Africa that ended Sunday broke new ground by putting the priorities of poor countries at the top of the bloc’s agenda.
Host South Africa negotiated a summit declaration signed by some of the world’s richest and top emerging economies that agreed to give more global attention to issues that especially affect developing nations.
They included the impact of climate change on poor countries, the rising debt levels and unfair borrowing conditions they face, and their call for help to transition to green energy sources.
But the United States, a G20 founding member and the world’s biggest economy, boycotted the summit, didn’t sign the declaration, and the Trump administration has declared it is opposed to South Africa’s agenda — especially the parts that focus on climate change.
From Monday, the U.S. takes over the rotating presidency of the G20, leaving the long-term impact of the South African declaration unclear.
Africa top of the agenda
The 21-member G20 was formed in 1999 to tackle global economic problems. Members include the U.S., China, Russia, India, France, Germany and the U.K., but also nations like Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa, and the European Union and African Union.
The 122-point declaration issued at the Johannesburg summit is not a binding document, but rather an indication of consensus.
It says nations agreed to work together to help mobilize public and private finance to help poor countries recover from climate-related disasters, which are becoming increasingly devastating for them.
Also Read: G20 Summit leaders adopt declaration on climate crisis
Africa contributes the least to global warming, for example — around 2-3% of global emissions, according to the U.N. — but is experiencing some of its worst impact. Recent cyclones made stronger by climate change caused billions of dollars of damage across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
Some developing nation representatives were invited to the summit as guests and explained their challenges around debt and borrowing, especially in Africa. Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio, head of the West African economic bloc, said countries in his region faced up to eight times higher interest rates for international loans than rich countries.
Namibia President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah said her country was viewed as high-risk by lenders despite recently paying back a $750 million bond on time.
“Africa doesn’t need charity,” Bio said, “but fair borrowing conditions.”
The limits of the G20
While leaders called the Johannesburg summit a milestone, questions were raised over the effectiveness of the bloc in confronting some of the biggest crises.
The war in Ukraine was mentioned just once in the declaration, in a general reference calling for the end of conflicts. The ongoing African crisis of the Sudan civil war also had just one mention in the same paragraph and no proposals to end it despite its destructive impact on the region.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the G20 was at an inflection point because it was “struggling to have a common standard on geopolitical crises.”
The US takes over
The summit ended with an uncomfortable moment. Traditionally, the host country hands over a symbolic wooden gavel to the nation taking over the G20 presidency, but no U.S. official was there to receive it from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa because of the boycott.
The U.S. wanted to send a representative from its embassy, but South Africa refused that, saying it was an insult for Ramaphosa to hand over to what it called a junior official.
After the ceremony, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva picked up the gavel and playfully swung it at an official next to him while saying to Ramaphosa in comments picked up by microphones: “I’ll take it to them (the U.S.).”
The G20 works on a “troika” system where the previous, current and next summit hosts work together through the year.
That means the U.S. will have to work over the next 12 months with South Africa, a country it has repeatedly singled out for criticism and sanctions since Trump returned to office, leaving their relations at their lowest since the end of apartheid 31 years ago.
Trump’s golf club next
Trump said that the G20 summit in 2026 will be at his golf club in Doral near Miami, Florida, but insisted his family’s business would not make any money off it.
The G20 under U.S. leadership will also look very different, U.S. officials said, as they criticized South Africa for inviting so many extra nations to this weekend’s summit as guests. South Africa said it wanted to be as inclusive as possible.
“We have whittled down the G20 back to basics,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “The G20 had become basically the G100 this past year.”
Trump has called for South Africa to be thrown out of the G20 over his widely rejected claims it is violently persecuting its Afrikaner white minority, and a South African government spokesperson was asked if South Africa had any fears that the U.S. might refuse to give its delegations visas to travel next year for the dozens of G20 meetings that take place in the months ahead of a summit.
“Like any other country, they can decide to give you a visa or not,” South African spokesperson and Cabinet Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said. “It doesn’t change the price of bread.”
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