World leaders attending the Group of 20 (G20) summit in South Africa on Saturday adopted a declaration addressing global challenges despite opposition from the United States.
The move broke protocol as declarations are usually adopted at the end of the G20 summit.
In his opening remarks, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said: “We must not allow anything to diminish the value, stature and impact of the first African G20 presidency.”
President Donald Trump’s decision not to send an American delegation to this year’s summit has had an impact.
South African officials said Washington had pressured South Africa not to adopt the declaration in his absence.
While the world’s largest economy boycotted the summit, Ramaphosa argued that the G20 still played an important role in international cooperation.
The summit host said, “The G20 underlines the value of the relevance of multilateralism. It recognizes that the challenges we face can only be solved through cooperation, collaboration and partnership.”
G20 amid geopolitical crisis
Despite Ramaphosa’s optimism, French President Emmanuel Macron said that “the G20 may come to the end of a cycle.”
“We are living in a moment of geopolitics in which we are struggling to solve major crises together at this table, including with members who are not present today,” Macron said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed with Macron’s warning.
“There’s no doubt about it, the road ahead is tough,” he said. “We need to find ways to play a constructive role again in the face of world challenges today.”
Meanwhile, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, who was attending the summit instead of President Xi Jinping, said that “unilateralism and protectionism are rampant” and that “many people are wondering what is really happening to global solidarity.”
What did the G20 leaders agree to in the declaration?
122 point declaration Called for more global action to tackle climate change.
Coming on the same day as COP30 talks ended in Brazil, the leaders acknowledged that “investment and climate finance” needs to be increased “by billions to trillions from all sources globally”.
The declaration also discussed 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 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.”
The leaders also urged “a just, comprehensive and lasting peace” in Ukraine, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the “occupied Palestinian territories”, based on the UN Charter.
Although Ukraine appeared only once in the 30-page text, Western leaders at the summit scrambled to the sidelines to address a peace plan proposed by the US that would end the war in Ukraine on terms deemed favorable to Russia.
Edited by: Shawn Sinico