President Cyril Ramaphosa hit out at the US during his opening address at the G20 Leaders’ Summit, calling for member states not to allow anything to diminish the value, the stature and the impact of the first African G20 presidency.
Ramaphosa said the G20 Leaders Summit has a responsibility not to allow the integrity and credibility of the G20 to be weakened.
“In fact, from this summit, we should have a sense that the G20 has been strengthened.”
He thanked the delegations that have worked together with South Africa in good faith to produce a worthy G20 outcome document for what he called a historic leaders meeting.
“The G20 underscores the value of relevance, of the relevance of multilateralism. It recognises that the challenges that we face can only be resolved through co-operation, collaboration and partnership. The adoption of the declaration from the summit sends an important signal to the world that multilateralism can and does deliver. It sends a message of hope and solidarity across the world.
“It tells the world that as the leaders of the G20 we will keep fast to our solemn pledge to leave no person, no community and no country behind.”
Ramaphosa said it was imperative for the leaders of the summit to come out with a declaration. During discussions with heads of state there was an overwhelming consensus and agreement that one of the first tasks should be an agreement on a declaration by overwhelming consensus, he said.
“I should precede this by remembering what a Roman philosopher called Pliny the Elder once said, he is said to have said, ‘ex Africa, semper, a liquid Novi’, meaning out of Africa, there is always something new. So something new always does come out of Africa.”
TimesLIVE reported on the eve of the leaders’ summit that Ramaphosa’s ambition to have the G20 Leaders’ Summit issue a declaration was within reach.
A government insider who spoke to TimesLIVE said they were positive South Africa’s presidency would produce a declaration from leaders present at the summit this weekend. The US’ absence would be noted, they said.
They said the member states’ negotiators had been working through the night this week to come up with an outcome that all heads of state would endorse.
“We are 80% done. The Sherpas are agreeing, and it’s more of the wording of some aspects of the agreements that they need to iron out. Mainly, the sticking points are around foreign policy, but rest assured, we will have a declaration,” they said.
This comes as Pretoria has been pushing back against the US’ alleged plans to sabotage the South African G20 presidency.
TimesLIVE reported on Wednesday that the US had written to Pretoria, warning against making a G20 declaration without its presence at the summit.
This was seen as a last-ditch attempt by the US to undermine South Africa’s G20 presidency. Negotiations have been ongoing between Pretoria and other G20 member states to agree on a summit declaration.
TimesLIVE understands that the US has made attempts to bully allies into not agreeing to a leader’s declaration during the summit.
Ramaphosa’s agenda has had the full backing of the Brics and EU members. On Friday evening, French President Emmanuel Macron told journalists that the G20 cannot let the US’ absence derail its work.
Business Day reported that Macron urged leaders to double down on co-operation as geopolitical tension, climate shocks and fragile economic conditions demand collective action.
Macron said the world’s major economies have a responsibility to keep negotiations on track despite political disruptions.
“We regret the absence of the US, but the summit continues … we can’t stop because of their absence,” Macron said.
He said several of the most pressing issues on the agenda — from climate finance to multilateral lending reform — require broad participation but cannot be paused while major members reassess their positions.
This is a developing story.
TimesLIVE
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