US G20 Request

Johannesburg, Nov 17 (PTI) A request from the US that no declaration be adopted at the G20 Global Leaders' Summit in Johannesburg this weekend is not dependent on South Africa because it has the presidency this year, but rather on all G20 members, according to South African G20 Sherpa Xolisa Mabhongo.

“We did receive over the weekend communication from the US where they indicated that in their absence in the meeting their preference is that there should be no declaration adopted. However, as the presidency of the G20, this does not depend on (South Africa),” Mabhongo said in an interview with public broadcaster SABC on Monday evening.

“We are the president, but the G20 is made up of 19 countries plus the European Union and the African Union, so as the presidency we are guided by the views of all G20 members. No country can just make an appeal to the presidency and say: ‘I'm not in your meeting so don't have a declaration,'” Mabhongo said.

He added that there have been no challenges with that request in the Sherpas meeting that started on Sunday in preparation of the global leaders meeting this coming weekend.

“The mood is very positive. The spirit in the room is one of cooperation; of trying to make sure that when we leave at the end of the Johannesburg Summit there is a meaningful outcome,” Mabhongo said.

“So far, we have not yet encountered any difficulties, so I can say that the mood in the room is very positive of the countries that are participating. The only country that is not in the room is the US and of course that is their choice not to be in the room. We do not foresee any major challenges,” he said.

Mabhongo also commented on allegations that South Africa had placed too much on the G20 agenda.

“As the presidency, you have the prerogative to set an agenda for a particular year that you are leading the group,” he said.

Citing repeated remarks by President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola, Mabhongo said that South Africa had presented four priorities when it took over the presidency on December 1, 2024 for discussion this year.

“When the US takes over for 2026, they also have that prerogative,” he said.

Mabhongo said an initiative that was highly appreciated by the G20 members was a review of the G20 to see what its effectiveness has been and what it has achieved.

“This review was done in a very consultative way. What came out of the review was that in the bigger scale the G20 is still important. Any organisation like the G20 needs to reviews its work and its status,” Mabhongo said.

“We must not wait for another 20 years. Maybe every five years we look back at ourselves and say: what are we doing and what have we achieved in (that period).”

Responding to a query on whether South Africa bringing the African continental development agenda into focus at the G20 would be changed by the US, Mabhongo said most of these issues transcended any one-year presidency.

These issues of disaster risk reduction; the Just Energy transition, the debt burden facing many low- and middle-income countries and critical minerals would continue to be debated at the G20 even beyond 2028, he said.

“What South Africa has done is to place them on the agenda of the G20, we did not expect that in one year we were going to find all the solutions to these four areas,” Mabhongo concluded.