President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday that the United States’ decision to boycott the G20 summit in South Africa later this month would not prevent the meeting of the world’s leading economies from going ahead.
Pretoria and Washington have clashed over a range of policy issues, including South Africa’s summit agenda, culminating in President Donald Trump announcing over the weekend that no US official will attend the Johannesburg gathering.
“We will take fundamental decisions, and their absence is their loss,” Ramaphosa told reporters in the coastal city of Cape Town.
“In many ways, the United States is also giving up the very important role that they should be playing as the biggest economy in the world,” he added.
Set for November 22–23, the summit marks the first time the G20 will convene on African soil.
South Africa, the current G20 chair, wants to use its presidency to champion Global South priorities, including boosting climate resilience and tackling debt in developing countries, before handing the baton to the United States next year.
The US has labelled South Africa’s theme of “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability” as “anti-American.”
“They’ve chosen to boycott, and boycotting never achieves anything of great impact, because decisions will be taken that will move the various issues ahead,” Ramaphosa said, alluding to a decision on the cost of debt, a hot-button issue for developing nations.
Trump has singled out South Africa for criticism on a number of issues since returning to the White House in January, notably making debunked claims that white Afrikaners were being systematically “killed and slaughtered” in the country.
He confronted President Ramaphosa in the Oval Office earlier this year, playing a video alleging a campaign against white farmers by the post-apartheid government. South Africa’s government denies any such policy.
In May, Trump offered refugee status to Afrikaners, descendants of the first European settlers; the first group of around 50 was flown to the United States on a chartered plane.
Pretoria has also faced criticism from the Trump administration over its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and laws meant to empower black South Africans as part of efforts to redress inequalities inherited from apartheid.
Founded in 1999, the Group of 20 (G20) leading economies comprises 19 countries and two regional bodies—the European Union and the African Union. The bloc represents 85 per cent of the world’s GDP and about two-thirds of its population.
AFP
