🔗 Share this article

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa formally concluded the Group of Twenty meeting in Johannesburg by striking a gavel, after rejecting a American suggestion for him to hand over duties to a relatively junior embassy official for the next summit in Florida.

Event Overshadowed by US Boycott

South Africa presented the 48-hour conference as a triumph for multilateralism, but it was overshadowed by a boycott by the US, which has repeatedly accused South Africa of showing bias toward white-minority Afrikaners—a claim that has been broadly refuted.

“We have gathered in the face of significant challenges and demonstrated our ability to come together, even in times of great difficulty, to strive for global improvement,” the president declared in his final address.

Wrapping up his speech, he noted: “This gavel of this G20 summit formally closes this summit and now moves on to the subsequent leader of the G20, which is the United States, where we shall reconvene next year.” It represented Ramaphosa’s sole reference of the nation absent from the gathering of the world’s largest economies.

G20 Declaration Focuses On Climate Change and Gender Equality

The G20 released a statement on Saturday stressing the importance to tackle climate change and achieve “gender equality.” The Trump government had pulled out of the Paris climate agreement on the first day of his new mandate and has overturned numerous measures designed to tackle sexism, racism and homophobia.

US Administration Reaction

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly accused Ramaphosa of “declining to enable a smooth transition of the G20 presidency.”

“This, combined with South Africa’s push to issue a G20 summit statement, despite consistent and strong American opposition, underscores the fact that they have exploited their leadership role to weaken the group’s core values,” she stated.

Handover Protocol Disagreement

South Africa had proposed to organize for an similarly ranked official to formally hand the G20 presidency to the US at the foreign ministry. Authorities explained it would breach protocol for Ramaphosa to give it to the US interim envoy.

South Africa’s top diplomat, Ronald Lamola, informed the press: “From us, the ball has moved. Our role is complete. The decision is theirs. If they want to come, we are available.”

Upcoming Gathering and Other Notable Non-Attendances

The 2026 conference is scheduled to take place at the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort, which is under Trump corporate ownership.

The nation of Argentina, led by President Javier Milei skipped the summit, also declined to support the communique. Its foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, said: “Specifically it addresses the protracted Middle Eastern dispute in a manner that fails to capture its entire intricacy.”

The G20 document read: “We are committed for a fair, inclusive, and enduring resolution in Sudan and the DRC, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ukraine, as well as resolving additional disputes and global hostilities.”

Group of Twenty History

The G20 was established following the Asian financial crisis in 1999, with 19 countries plus the EU. The African Union was added in 2023.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and Mexico's leader Claudia Sheinbaum were also absent from the summit. The Russian president faces an arrest warrant by the international criminal court, to which South Africa is a signatory. The Chinese president has assigned participation in numerous global events this year to China’s prime minister, Li Qiang.