South Africa pushes through G20 declaration amid US boycott
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday hailed the joint declaration adopted at the Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (MNTV) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday hailed the joint declaration adopted at the Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg, calling it a “renewed commitment to multilateral cooperation” after the United States boycotted the meeting.
The summit, held Nov. 22–23, was the first G20 gathering hosted on African soil. Ramaphosa said the declaration showed that world leaders’ “shared goals outweigh our differences” as participants endorsed language on the climate crisis, debt relief and transitioning developing nations toward clean energy.
Washington skipped the summit, with President Donald Trump citing allegations that South Africa’s Black-majority government persecutes white citizens, claims that have been widely discredited.
The US administration had also opposed South Africa’s agenda, which emphasized helping poorer nations manage rising debt costs and adapt to climate-driven weather disasters.
Despite U.S. objections, Ramaphosa secured consensus from all leaders present except Argentina, which did not block the declaration’s adoption.
The final document underscored the scale of the climate emergency, backed ambitious renewable-energy targets and highlighted the burden of heavy debt-service payments faced by developing countries.
The tone marked a departure from language traditionally avoided by the current U.S. government.
The summit followed tensions within the transatlantic alliance over Russia’s war in Ukraine and came shortly after COP30 climate talks in Brazil ended without naming fossil fuels as the main driver of global warming, following pushback from major oil-producing and high-consuming nations.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the outcomes of both COP30 and the G20 meeting showed that multilateral cooperation “remains alive.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz noted that the United States was mentioned only briefly during the Johannesburg discussions, saying the world was “reorganizing itself” and forming new alignments.
He added that the U.S. absence was “not a good decision,” but one Washington must explain for itself.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney described the current global moment as “not a transition, but a rupture,” reflecting the broader geopolitical shifts shaping the summit.
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