JOHANNESBURG, November 22. /TASS/. For the first time in its modern history, Africa is hosting the G20 summit, which kicks off on Saturday in Johannesburg in northern South Africa.
"We view this summit as a historic event, confirming the strengthening of the positions of South Africa, Africa, and the Global South in the world," the South African Foreign Ministry told TASS.
The two-day summit will be chaired by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. All G20 countries are participating in the summit except for the United States, which, according to Ramaphosa, is boycotting the summit. The Russian delegation is headed by Russian presidential administration deputy head Maxim Oreshkin.
The South African president has invited the heads of state and government of 22 other countries to participate in various meetings and forums in Johannesburg on the sidelines of the summit.
South Africa has chosen solidarity, equality, and sustainability as the guiding principles of its G20 presidency, which began on December 1, 2024. To prepare for the summit, South Africa held over 130 meetings and sessions to develop strategies for achieving its goals and enshrined the resulting decisions in a joint final declaration.
Summit’s main intrigue of summit
The question of whether the South African president will succeed in getting the summit's joint declaration adopted is still open. It is the most discussed issue on the eve of the summit's opening, even though the sherpas agreed on the text 24 hours before the summit began. Nevertheless, a number of questions remain, including the title of the document.
On November 15, the US warned South Africa through diplomatic channels that adopting a joint declaration would create the impression of consensus within the G20 on South Africa's proposed priorities, "which contradict the political views of the US."
Currently, the South African presidency's plan is for the summit participants to adopt the declaration by consensus. "We believe that the G20 is capable of sending a signal that the world can move forward without the US," South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola said. At the same time, he did not rule out the possibility that, if the conditions for adopting a joint declaration were not met, the final document would be a statement by the chair.
In the history of G20 summits, which have been held regularly since 2008, the participants have always been able to adopt a joint declaration.
South Africa's G20 presidency ends with the conclusion of the summit. On December 1, the presidency will pass to the United States.