Africa’s first G20 summit opens with an ambitious agenda and a U.S. boycott

The first Group of 20 summit to be held in Africa opened Saturday with an ambitious agenda aimed at making progress in solving some of the long-standing problems plaguing the world’s poorest countries.

Leaders and senior government officials from the richest and largest emerging economies gathered at an exhibition center near South Africa’s famous Soweto township, once home to Nelson Mandela, to try to find consensus on the priorities set by the host country.

Many of South Africa’s priorities for the group, particularly its focus on climate change and its impact on developing countries, have been met with resistance from the United States, which is boycotting the negotiations.

Opening the summit, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his speech that a “consensus has emerged” and appeared to indicate that a declaration would be adopted in the absence of the United States and despite its opposition.

South Africa’s agenda

South Africa, which sets the agenda as the country holding the rotating presidency, wants leaders to agree to do more to help poor countries recover from climate-related disasters, reduce their external debt burdens, shift to green energy sources and exploit their own critical mineral wealth – all in a bid to counter growing global inequality.

“We will see,” UN Secretary-General Ant�nio Guterres said on whether the G20 could prioritize developing countries and undertake meaningful reforms. “But I think South Africa has done its part in putting these things clearly on the table.”

The two-day summit will take place without the world’s largest economy after US President Donald Trump ordered a US boycott of the summit over his claims that South Africa pursues racist anti-white policies and persecutes its white Afrikaner minority.

The Trump administration also made clear its opposition to South Africa’s G20 agenda from the start of the year, when South Africa began hosting G20 meetings. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio missed a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in February, putting diversity, equity, inclusion and climate change on the agenda.

Rubio said he would not waste American taxpayer money on this.

Diplomatic divide

The months-long diplomatic divide between the United States and South Africa deepened in the run-up to this weekend’s main summit, but as Trump’s boycott dominated pre-talk discussions in Johannesburg and threatened to undermine the agenda, some leaders were eager to move on.

“I regret it,” French President Emmanuel Macron said of Trump’s absence, “but it should not block us. Our duty is to be present, to engage and to work together because we have so many challenges.”

The G20 is actually a group of 21 members comprising 19 countries, the European Union and the African Union.

The bloc was formed in 1999 to serve as a bridge between rich and poor countries to address global financial crises. Although it often operates in the shadow of the Group of Seven’s wealthier democracies, G20 members together represent about 85% of the global economy, 75% of international trade and more than half of the world’s population.

But it works by consensus rather than binding resolutions, which is often difficult to achieve given the differing interests of members like the United States, Russia, China, India, Japan, Western European countries, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and others like Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

Guterres warned that rich countries have often failed to make the concessions needed to reach effective deals on climate or global financial reform.

Doubts about a declaration

G20 summits traditionally end with a leaders’ statement, which details any general agreement reached by members, but even that has proven difficult to secure in Johannesburg.

South Africa said the United States was pressuring it not to issue any leaders’ statements in the absence of the United States and instead reduce the final document to a unilateral declaration by the host country.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa responded to this by saying “we will not be intimidated” and promised a statement from all members present at the conclusion of the summit on Sunday, with or without US input.

Still, the direction of the G20 bloc is likely to change dramatically as the United States takes over the rotating presidency from South Africa at the end of this summit, with the Trump administration having derided its focus on climate change and inequality. Trump said the United States would hold next year’s summit at his golf club in Doral, Florida.

The only role the United States will play at this summit, the White House said, will be when a representative from the U.S. Embassy in South Africa attends the formal handover ceremony at the end to accept the presidency of the G20.

South Africa said it was an insult for Ramaphosa to hand over the baton to what it considers a junior diplomat.

“We have communicated to the US government that the president will not hand over to a junior embassy official,” South African Foreign Ministry spokesman Chrispin Phiri told the Associated Press. “As a result, we do not anticipate that there will be any form of transfer of power here (at the top).”