Ramaphosa after US snub to G20 Summit – Firstpost

As South Africa prepares for the G20 summit, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday the country would not be bothered by the United States boycotting the international event in Johannesburg this weekend. The comments came as Washington demanded that South Africa not issue a traditional joint leaders’ statement after the meeting.

While 40 countries will attend the summit, US President Donald Trump said there will be no US representation, citing differences in international and domestic policies. The move was seen as a broader US withdrawal from multilateralism amid an unstable global order.

“It cannot be that a country’s geographical location or income or military determines who has a voice and who is talked to,” Ramaphosa told delegates at a curtain-raiser event, in an apparent reference to Washington. “One nation should not threaten another,” he said, addressing a gathering of civil society groups ahead of the November 22-23 summit.

America is adamant on boycotting it

Meanwhile, the US Embassy made it clear that it would not attend the summit. In a note to South Africa, the US Embassy said its G20 priorities “contrary to US policy views and we cannot support consensus on any document negotiated under your chairmanship.”

It added that the United States “proposes the release of any G20 summit outcome document based on the consensus G20 position, without US consent.” It is noteworthy that South Africa is the first African country to host the G20 summit. South Africa said the United States’ absence from the event negated its role.

South Africa still plans to issue a joint statement

The African country’s Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said Pretoria would move forward on the leaders’ announcement. “We will not be told by anyone absent that we cannot adopt any declaration or take any decisions at the summit,” he said in an address after Ramaphosa spoke.

South Africa chose “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability” as the theme of this year’s G20 summit, which comprises 19 countries and two regional bodies, the European Union and the African Union. What makes the G20 important is that its members represent 85 percent of global GDP and two-thirds of the world’s population. In his closing ceremony address, Ramaphosa reiterated: “We need to sit at the table as equals… without bullying the other.”

The South African leader said, “In the past, most of us in the Global South were colonized; we were not even allowed to be in the room. And now we are arguing that we would like to be in the room.”

With inputs from AFP.