South Africa's G20 Presidency Complicated By Us Hostility

During his speech at the G20 finance ministers' meeting at the end of February, South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa suggested that closing the large inequality gap between developing and developed countries would create a more prosperous world. "As the G20 we need deliberate and coordinated efforts to focus on inclusive growth based on responsive trade and investment to grow the incomes of the poor nations and poorest in society and this we should do in our own selfish interests," Ramaphosa said.

Tackling inequality is thus a major pillar of South Africa's rotating presidency of the G20 - an intergovernmental forum of the world's richest countries, plus the European Union EU and African Union AU. This year is the first time the summit will be held on African soil, offering an opportunity for the continent to stress its unique priorities.

Pretoria is elevating four key themes under its presidency: strengthening disaster resilience and response, especially in poor countries that cannot afford the costs of recovery debt sustainability for low-income countries mobilising finance for the just energy transition and harnessing critical minerals for inclusive growth. But analysts are questioning how South Africa can drive its agenda forward without the participation of high-level US representatives, who have pledged not to attend certain meetings.

On 5 February US secretary of state Marco Rubio announced on X formerly Twitter that he would not attend a foreign ministers' summit. He dismissed South Africa's G20 goals as anti-American.

"I will NOT attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg. South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote 'solidarity, equality, sustainability'. In other words: DEI and climate change. My job is to advance America's national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism," he tweeted.