In his opening remarks, President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa has sought to preserve the integrity and stature of the Group of 20 top economies.
World leaders have gathered for the G20 Leaders’ Summit in South Africa, which opened Saturday in Johannesburg with opening remarks from its President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa said South Africa has sought to preserve the integrity and stature of the Group of 20 top economies. He added that the country would ensure that the development priorities of the Global South and the African continent would find expression in the summit’s agenda, Reuters reported.
The three-day summit started on Saturday (November 21), with Prime Minister Narendra Modi arriving in Johannesburg a day earlier. Modi held key discussions with global leaders upon his arrival, including a bilateral meeting with Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese.
“Landed in Johannesburg for the G20 Summit related engagements. Look forward to productive discussions with world leaders on key global issues,” PM Modi said in a post on X.
Ahead of its final day, here are some key takeaways from the G20 summit.
PM Modi’s six-point agenda
PM Modi pitched India’s vision for six new G20-led initiatives. The PM’s first proposal called for urgent and coordinated action “to overcome the challenge of drug trafficking.” “India proposes a G20 Initiative on Countering the Drug-Terror Nexus,” PM Modi said.
His second proposal focused on creating a G20 Global Healthcare Response Team with trained medical professionals from member countries ready for deployment. PM Modi, in a push for host country Africa’s development, also proposed the G20 Africa-Skills Multiplier Initiative to facilitate the country’s workforce transformation.
His fourth proposal was the establishment of a a Global Traditional Knowledge Repository. Finally, PM Modi announced a G20 Open Satellite Data Partnership and called for the creation of a G20 Critical Minerals Circularity Initiative.
G20 adopts declaration despite US boycott, opposition
The G20 summit adopted a declaration on its first day to address the climate crisis and other global challenges.
The declaration was drafted without any inputs from the United States of America, with the White House saying South African President Ramaphosa was “refusing to facilitate a smooth transition of the G20 presidency.”
“This, coupled with South Africa’s push to issue a G20 Leaders Declaration, despite consistent and robust US objections, underscores the fact that they have weaponized their G20 presidency to undermine the G20’s founding principles,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said, according to Reuters.
Trump had ordered a boycott of the summit, over claims that South Africa is pursuing racist and anti-White policies while persecuting its Afrikaner White minority. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had also skipped a G20 foreign ministers meeting in February, while saying that the agenda was all about diversity, equity and inclusion and climate change. He further said he would not “waste” American taxpayers’ money on that.
Emphasis on Critical Minerals Framework
In the summit declaration, emphasis was placed on the creation of a G20 Critical Minerals Framework, with the objective to use critical minerals as a catalyst for sustainable development and inclusive economic growth.
The framework further seeks to ensure that the countries producing these minerals, especially in the Global South, can deruve maximum benefit from their resources.
“We recognise that, as the world economy is undergoing significant changes, including sustainable transitions, rapid digitisation and industrial innovations, the demand for critical minerals will increase,” the declaration stated.
It further said that the benefits associated with the minerals have not been “fully realised”, and that the producer countries face challenges including “under investment, limited value addition and beneficiation, lack of technologies as well as socio-economic and environmental issues.”
Need to scale up climate finance
The G20 declaration, which was endorsed on the same day as the COP30 UN climate talks concluded with the signing of a deal, highlighted the need to “rapidly and substantially” scale up climate finance “from billions to trillions globally.”
It further underscored the inequalities in regards to the access to energy, particularly in Africa, and called for the need to increase and diversify investments for sustainable energy transition.
It further mentioned climate-linked disasters, with the leaders saying they would promote the development of more early warning systems for people who are at risk.
Ukraine in focus on the sidelines
While Ukraine was mentioned only once in the 30-page declaration in the context of addressing major global conflicts, Western leaders attending the summit have kept the conflict in focus during their talks on the sidelines.
The declaration calls for “just, comprehensive, and lasting peace” in Ukraine, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the “Occupied Palestinian Territory”.
The European leaders at the Group of 20 summit issued a statement after controversial details of US President Donald Trump’s 28 point-peace plan was leaked, Bloomberg reported. The leaders are trying to buy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky time and come up with a counter-proposal.