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The leader of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa formally concluded the Group of Twenty meeting in Johannesburg by striking a gavel, after rejecting a US proposal for him to hand over duties to a relatively junior embassy official for the upcoming gathering in Florida.

Summit Marred by US Boycott

South Africa presented the two-day event as a triumph for multilateralism, but it was diminished by a boycott by the US, which has repeatedly accused South Africa of discriminating against white-minority Afrikaners—a claim that has been broadly refuted.

“We’ve met in the face of major obstacles and demonstrated our ability to unite, even in periods of hardship, to pursue a better world,” Ramaphosa stated in his final address.

Concluding his remarks, he announced: “This ceremonial hammer of this G20 summit formally closes this summit and now proceeds to the next president of the G20, which is the United States, where we shall reconvene next year.” It represented Ramaphosa’s only mention of the nation absent from the assembly of major global powers.

G20 Declaration Highlights Climate Change and Equal Rights

The G20 released a statement on Saturday emphasizing the need to tackle climate change and achieve “gender equality.” Donald Trump’s administration had withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement on the first day of his new mandate and has reversed many policies designed to tackle sexism, racism and homophobia.

US Administration Reaction

US administration representative Anna Kelly claimed the president of “declining to enable a seamless handover of the G20 presidency.”

“This, combined with South Africa’s effort to release a G20 leaders’ declaration, despite consistent and robust US objections, underscores the fact that they have weaponised their G20 presidency to weaken the group’s core values,” she remarked.

Handover Protocol Disagreement

South Africa had proposed to organize for an equivalent “junior” diplomat to formally hand the G20 presidency to the US at the foreign ministry. Officials had stated it would breach protocol for Ramaphosa to give it to the US interim envoy.

South Africa’s top diplomat, Ronald Lamola, told reporters: “From us, the ball has moved. We are done. It’s up to them. If they want to come, we are available.”

Future Summit and Other Notable Non-Attendances

The 2026 summit is scheduled to take place at the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort, which is owned by the Trump Organization.

Argentina, whose president Javier Milei did not attend, also refused to endorse the communique. Its foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, commented: “In particular, it deals with the longstanding Middle East conflict in a manner that does not fully reflect its full complexity.”

The G20 document read: “We are committed for a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in Sudan and the DRC, the Palestinian territories, Ukraine, as well as resolving additional disputes and wars around the globe.”

Group of Twenty History

The G20 was established following the Asian financial crisis in 1999, with 19 nations and the European Union. The African Union was added in 2023.

The Russian leader Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and Mexico's leader Claudia Sheinbaum were also not present at the meeting. The Russian president faces an arrest warrant by the international criminal court, to which South Africa is a signatory. The Chinese president has assigned participation in numerous global events this year to China’s prime minister, Li Qiang.