G20 South Africa 2025

G20 South Africa
22 – 23 November 2025
The G20 comprises 19 countries including: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia,
South Africa, Türkiye, United Kingdom, and United States and two regional bodies, namely the European Union and the African Union.
The G20 members include the world’s major economies, representing 85% of global Gross Domestic Product, over 75% of international trade, and about two-thirds of the world population.

20 November
White House Says South Africa’s President Is ‘Running His Mouth’
The South African president suggested Washington had decided to participate in the summit, despite an earlier claim of a boycott.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said the administration planned to send its acting ambassador in South Africa, Marc D. Dillard, but only to participate in a ceremony at the end of the summit.
With the United States hosting next year’s gathering, Mr. Dillard would receive “that send off at the end of the event,” she said, but would not “participate in official talks.”
… But after the comments from Ms. Leavitt, the South African president’s spokesman wrote on social media that Mr. Ramaphosa would not hand over the G20 presidency to an acting U.S. ambassador.
… Dozens of meetings on a variety of topics, including climate change and debt sustainability, have been held in the lead up to this weekend. The United States has skipped many of the meetings, according to people who participated. In cases where U.S. officials did attend, they often refused to negotiate, preventing countries from issuing joint declarations. (All declarations require unanimous agreement.)
South African officials have said they plan to forge ahead with a consensus declaration at the end of the summit this weekend, despite the United States’ objection on the grounds that it will not be participating in the negotiations.
Ramaphosa says US discussing coming to G20 in South Africa, White House denies
Ramaphosa say US has had a last minute change of mind
White House says US will not participate in discussion
US chargé d’affaires to attend G20 handover ceremony
Trump rejects summit’s focus on solidarity, climate
(Reuters) – South Africa’s president said on Thursday the U.S. had signalled it might change its mind and participate in the G20 summit in Johannesburg after a boycott by the Trump administration, but the White House dismissed the report as “fake news.”

The G20 Can No Longer Postpone Debt Relief
Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe urges members to devise a framework that would reduce Africa’s liabilities and enable its green transition.

At the first G20 summit held in Africa, leaders urge the rich world to do more against climate disasters
(AP) — In South Africa ’s oldest township, volunteers in wetsuits jump into the thigh-deep water of the polluted Jukskei River to untangle a net that’s designed to trap garbage but damaged by heavy rains. Without the nets, the shacks of low-lying Alexandra on the outskirts of Johannesburg could face disastrous flooding.
World leaders with the Group of 20 rich and developing nations will meet this weekend in Johannesburg for the bloc’s first summit in Africa. Host South Africa wants to prioritize issues affecting poor countries, including responses to disasters made worse by climate change.
South Africa will urge rich countries and international financial institutions to help more — a plea also being made at global climate talks in Brazil.
“The ravages of the climate are directly linked to the ravages of inequality,” Binaifer Nowrojee, president of the Open Society Foundations, a non-governmental organization promoting democracy and governance, told The Associated Press. “Countries are facing the destructive choice between growing their economies and taking climate action.”
The World Bank says the poorest countries were hit by nearly eight times as many natural disasters in the decade from 2010-2020 as they were from 1980-1990.
Climate financing has been a focus of sharp debate between rich and poor countries at major summits like the G20.
Rich countries agreed at last year’s United Nations climate summit to pool at least $300 billion a year by 2035 to help developing countries deal with the impacts of climate change and weather disasters. But independent experts said much more — an estimated $1 trillion a year — was needed by 2030.

19 November
What is the G20 and why does it matter?
(WE Forum) This year’s Group of 20 (G20) Summit is being held in South Africa – the first time an African nation has hosted – with a focus on helping developing economies adapt to the climate crisis, transition to clean energy and cut excessive debt.
South Africa has held the Presidency since 1 December 2024, operating under the theme of ‘Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability’. The Summit, held in Johannesburg on 22 and 23 November, is the culmination of almost a year of international meetings and negotiations to bridge the gap between the Global North and South.
“When South Africa assumed the G20 Chairship last year, the world was navigating a precarious geopolitical climate,” said Ronald O Lamola, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, in the run-up to the Summit. “Our response was clear and courageous: the world needs more Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability. These are not just words, they are the pillars of our Presidency, rooted deeply in the African philosophy of Ubuntu … ‘I am because we are’.”

18 November
South Africa rises above US snub as G20 nears
As Johannesburg prepares to host Africa’s first ever G20 summit, South Africa aims to showcase its diplomatic and economic potential despite the US boycott.
(DW) The first G20 summit to be held on African soil is a big moment for South Africa, which is trying to straddle its role as a BRICS member, while remaining a valued trade partner for Western democracies.
But for Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, president and CEO of the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), South Africa’s focus on solidarity, equality, and sustainability has been refreshing.
“It comes at a time when the world is starting to recognize that Africa is central to solving a lot of the global challenges,” Owusu-Gyamfi told DW, adding that “global growth and stability depend on whether the African continent’s trajectory is good or bad.”
She points to Africa’s fast growing, young population, its increasing share of the global workforce, and sovereignty over a “significant percentage of the critical minerals that we need for green growth.”

16 November
G20 Task Force Urges Formation of Global Panel to Tackle ‘Inequality Emergency’
Ramaphosa’s G20 legacy could be a global push to tackle inequality and strengthen democracy.
The G20 Inequality Committee, appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, has urged the formation of a new International Panel on Inequality (IPI) to support policymaking internationally, in its first report on inequality to the global forum.
The Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Inequality, chaired by Nobel Economics Prize Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, examined global inequality and its impact on growth, poverty and multilateralism. It also proposed policies that might address global wealth inequality’s most adverse effects.
“Today’s inequalities are not the result of the laws of nature. They are the result of what we, as nations and the global community, have done. Inequality is a choice. It is not inevitable and can be reversed with political will,” reads the 69-page report published on Tuesday, 4 November.

14 November
Africa’s G20 agenda can help shape a more stable and prosperous world
Climate finance, debt relief, global financial reform, and inequality may top Africa’s agenda, but they should equally shape global policy, as the world’s collective stability and prosperity depend on Africa’s future.
(African Business) With the G20 heads of state summit drawing closer, Africa is racing to rally global support for its agenda. South Africa’s presidency is seeking to drive consensus and action on priority issues like climate finance, debt relief, global financial reform, and inequality. But why should leaders outside of Africa take on these challenges with the same gusto as Africa’s leaders? Because it is in their self-interest to do so. Success or failure in these matters will have far-reaching implications not only for Africa’s future, but for the world’s collective stability and prosperity.
The 21st century is unmistakably the African century. The continent is undergoing a major demographic transformation that has magnified its role in the global order. Approximately 1.5bn people or 18% of the global population currently live in Africa. However, by 2050, the UN projects that 2.5bn people – or 25% of the world’s population at the time – will be living on the continent. Its share of the world’s population is set to reach close to 40% percent by 2100.
Indeed, five of the eight countries expected to drive more than half of global population growth over the next three decades are African. These include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Egypt. The working-age population in these African countries, and in many others across the continent, will grow faster than any other age group. In contrast, many other regions face stagnating or declining populations, underscoring Africa’s centrality to future migration flows, labour markets, supply chains, innovation, and global demand.

8 November
Trump says no US government official will attend G20 summit in South Africa
Trump cites ‘human rights abuses’ against white Afrikaners
South Africa says persecution claims ‘not substantiated by fact’
(Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Friday that no U.S. government official would attend the Group of 20 summit in South Africa later this month, because of what he said were “human rights abuses” taking place in the country.
South Africa’s foreign ministry described the decision as “regrettable” and repeated its rejection of Trump’s claims that white Afrikaners face persecution based on their race in the Black-majority country.