President Cyril Ramaphosa said Wednesday the United States boycott of the G20 summit in South Africa later this month would not prevent the meeting of the world’s leading economies from going ahead.
Pretoria and Washington have clashed over a range of policy issues, including South Africa’s summit agenda, culminating in President Donald Trump announcing at the weekend that no US official will attend the Johannesburg gathering.
“We will take fundamental decisions and their absence is their loss,” Ramaphosa told reporters in the coastal city of Cape Town.
“In many ways, the United States is also giving up the very important role that they should be playing as the biggest economy in the world,” he added.
Set for November 22–23, the summit marks the first time the G20 will convene on African soil.
South Africa — current G20 chair — wants to use its presidency to champion Global South priorities, including boosting climate resilience and tackling debt in developing countries, before handing the baton to the United States next year.
The US has labelled South Africa’s theme of “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability” as “anti-American”.
“They’ve chosen to boycott, and boycotting never achieves anything of great impact, because decisions will be taken that will move the various issues ahead,” Ramaphosa, alluding to a decision on the cost of debt, a hot-button issue for developing nations.
Trump has singled out South Africa for harsh treatment on a number of issues since he returned to the White House in January, notably making debunked claims of white Afrikaners being systematically “killed and slaughtered” in the country.
He ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval office earlier this year, playing a video in which he alleged a campaign against white farmers by the post-apartheid government.
South Africa’s government denies any such policy.
In May, Trump offered refugee status to Afrikaners, descendants of the first European settlers, a first group of around 50 were flown to the United States on a chartered plane.
Pretoria has also come under fire from the Trump administration over its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and laws meant to empower black South Africans as part of efforts to redress inequalities inherited from apartheid.
Founded in 1999, the Group of 20 (G20) leading economies comprises 19 countries and two regional bodies — the European Union and the African Union (AU).
The bloc represents 85 percent of the world’s GDP and about two-thirds of its population.
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