Physical Address
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A summit without Putin, Xi Jinping and Trump
The G20 Summit scheduled for November 22 and 23 in Johannesburg, South Africa, will be held in the absence of three big names, namely the Chinese presidents, Xi Jinping, the Russian Vladimir Putin and the American Donald Trump. The Prime Minister, Sifi Ghrieb, has been in Johannesburg since Thursday to represent the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
This is the first G20 summit organized in Africa, after a cycle dominated by summits held in countries of the Global South, in Brazil (2024), India (2023) and Indonesia (2022). After this edition, South Africa must hand over the presidency of the G20 to the United States.
This summit should bring together, for two days, the leaders of the largest economies in the world. Founded in 1999, the Group of 20 major economies comprises 19 countries and two continental organizations, namely the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU). G20 members represent 85% of global GDP and around two-thirds of its population.
This summit comes at a time marked by growing global instability and political tensions, particularly between Pretoria and Washington.
Donald Trump has continued attacks on South Africa since his return to the White House in January, baselessly accusing it of an alleged “white genocide”. He also imposed customs taxes of 30% on Pretoria, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.
However, for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, this summit should provide new solutions to the multiple crises shaking the world, particularly on the issues of financing development, the energy transition and the debt of poor countries. Its theme is “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability”.
For its presidency of the G20, Pretoria has indicated that it has priorities: strengthening resilience to disasters, debt sustainability for low-income countries, financing a just energy transition as well as the exploitation of critical minerals for inclusive growth and sustainable development.
South Africa has commissioned a team of experts to analyze global wealth inequality and propose solutions at the summit. The team, led by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, called for the creation of an international panel to tackle the “inequality emergency” that leaves 2.3 billion people moderately to severely food insecure.
For Pretoria, growth prospects are threatened by trade barriers and new geopolitical risks, disrupted by the new rules of the game imposed by the White House with customs surcharges. She pleads for a revitalization of multilateralism.
South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, opening a two-day meeting with his G20 counterparts near Durban (east), said that “inflation is gradually slowing and financial conditions have started to stabilize in some regions”, but “uncertainty continues to weigh heavily on the outlook for global growth”. “Increasing trade barriers, persistent global imbalances and new geopolitical risks are important concerns,” he added. These challenges, combined with the effects of climate change, risk making the sustainable development goals “even further out of reach”, he said.