Name: G20 leaders seeking agreement in South Africa, despite U.S. boycott
Uploaded: 2025-11-22T15:08:05.358Z
Duration: 2 min 41 s
Description: Hopes for a strong G20 declaration on climate and debt relief are slim as South Africa hosts the summit from Saturday (November 22). Global tensions and a boycott by the U.S. threaten to overshadow the gathering.

Hopes for a strong G20 declaration on climate and debt relief are slim as South Africa hosts the summit from Saturday (November 22). Global tensions and a boycott by the U.S. threaten to overshadow the gathering.

Soweto

South Africa is hosting the first-ever G20 summit on the African continent in Soweto, Johannesburg, with a focus on climate action and debt relief for developing nations. However, the absence of US President Donald Trump, who is boycotting the event and has rejected South Africa's agenda, has dampened expectations for strong agreements.

Despite the US boycott and other notable absences, South African officials and analysts emphasize the importance of unity among remaining participants. The summit highlights Africa's energy needs and the global race for critical minerals, but longstanding divisions among G20 members over climate financing persist.

G20 leaders seeking agreement in South Africa, despite U.S. boycott

South Africa on Saturday began hosting the first-ever G20 summit on African soil, but hopes for a strong declaration on climate and debt relief for developing nations are slim. Geopolitical tensions are high, and US President Donald Trump is boycotting the meeting. Washington has rejected South Africa's agenda of promoting global solidarity and helping developing nations adapt to worsening climate shocks, transition to clean energy and to ease debt burdens. That may hamper the summit, but leaders could still find common ground. This is Yohannes Bell, director of the Disaster Management and Education Training Centre for Africa at the University of the Free State. If they are not coming into the party, that is where the G20 may have some sort of a limping leg. But that does not mean the rest of the parties, the rest of 190-something countries in the world cannot come together and decide on how to move the planet forward. South Africa's priorities include preparing for climate-induced disasters and mobilising finance for clean energy transition. As Busisipu Osiyobe, public policy researcher at Good Governance Africa says, with 600 million Africans lacking electricity, it's about making sure they benefit from the global race for critical minerals. The real question now really goes around how do we ensure that the people on the continent are benefiting from these minerals and how are they serving the current energy crises that we have, respectively, within the continent. The summit is being held in Soweto, a suburb of Johannesburg infamous under apartheid as a community for black South Africans barred from living in the city itself. Even before President Trump returned to the White House, there were divisions among G20 members over sharing the cost of climate action. Trump further raised tensions with South Africa by repeating debunked claims about white South Africans being slaughtered and driven off their land. Other absentees include Argentina's Javier Mille and China's Xi Jinping. But Trump's absence is not necessarily a bad thing, says political analyst Payet Koukamp. Look, Trump thought coming to South Africa may be the best thing that could happen to the G20. Imagine him or even JD Vance getting up on stage here and do what Vance has done in Europe when he arrived there and insulted each and every foreign leader sitting in that room. And that's exactly what they would have done coming here. It would have been chaos. The summit finishes on Sunday. And with the US scheduled to chair the next G20 summit, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa quipped he would hand the G20 presidency to an empty chair. For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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