G20 envoys have agreed on a draft leaders’ declaration ahead of this weekend’s summit in Johannesburg without US input, four sources familiar with the matter say.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has indicated that it will boycott the November 22-23 summit over disagreements with host South Africa.
Trump had said he would not attend the G20 summit because of discrimination against the country’s white Afrikaner minority, an allegation the South African government rejects.
World leaders arrived on Friday for the first Group of 20 summit on the African continent that aimed to put the problems of poor countries at the top of the global agenda.
A leaders’ declaration is the usual climax of G20 summits and details any broad agreement reached by the members, although it is not a binding document.
The bloc has often struggled to put words into action due to the different priorities of members like the US, China, Russia, India and countries in western Europe.
“It is a longstanding G20 tradition to issue only consensus deliverables, and it is shameful that the South African government is now trying to depart from this standard practice despite our repeated objections,” a senior official in Trump’s administration said.
None of the sources divulged details of the declaration’s contents and it was not clear what concessions had to be made on the language to get everyone to agree, especially around climate change, any mention of which the United States had objected to being included in the discussion.
The G20 has expanded to 21 members, 19 countries plus the European Union and African Union, and is meant to bring rich and poor countries together to tackle problems, especially around the global economy.
Three out of four of South Africa’s planned top agenda items – preparing for climate-induced weather disasters, financing the transition to green energy and ensuring the rush for critical minerals benefits producers – were largely about climate change.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday that South Africa was in discussions with the United States – which will host the G20 in 2026 – over its possible participation in the summit after all, although the White House later denied this.
Ramaphosa had earlier said he was resigned to handing over to an “empty chair”.
The White House on Thursday said it would send the US charge d’affaires for the G20 handover, an offer which South Africa’s presidency rejected.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General António Guterres urged the G20 members to work towards ending conflict.
Before the start of the G20 on Saturday, Guterres called on its members to “use their influence and voices to end the conflicts that are causing so much death, destruction and destabilisation around the world”.
Guterres specifically mentioned the wars and conflicts in Ukraine, the Gaza Strip, Sudan, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Everywhere – from Haiti to Yemen to Myanmar and beyond – we must choose peace anchored in international law,” he said.
He also called for countries to take action on climate change and help reduce global inequalities: both financial inequality, and when it comes to representation in international institutions.
with AP