US not boycotting G20, says Ramaphosa in taking a confident stance on finding solutions with Trump

President Cyril Ramaphosa with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the margins of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Johannesburg. (Photo: Jairus Mmutle / GCIS)

By Ferial Haffajee

20 Feb 2025

In the face of a barrage of attacks from US leaders about the progressive values South Africa has set for the G20, President Cyril Ramaphosa says he believes that SA and the US could still work together and find solutions to their differences.

‘We will continue to find ways, avenues and means through which we can continue relating to each other, despite whatever may appear as differences,” President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) foreign ministers’ meeting in Johannesburg on Thursday night.

“I’m a solutions-oriented person, and I think [US] President [Donald] Trump is as well, and we will find solutions in this regard.”

The G20 foreign ministers' meeting held at Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg. (Photo: Jairus Mmutle / GCIS)

Earlier in the month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said its themes of solidarity, equality and sustainability were what he called “DEI” (diversity, equity and inclusion), and he named these as reasons he would not attend. The new American administration is dismantling DEI programmes, and big business is following suit.

Brazil, South Africa and the US are the “troika” leading the G20 – Brazil held the 2024 chair and the US is meant to take the baton at the November G20 heads of state summit. Brazil set similar themes and South Africa has amplified these as global imperatives.

The US is represented at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting by a diplomat based in South Africa. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a post on X on Wednesday that he would skip the G20 finance ministers’ meeting next week due to” obligation in Washington.

“The secretary of state not attending is, in the end, not a trainsmash, because the United States is still represented here and they are part of the G20, and the discussions that will take place here are discussions that they are going to be part and parcel of.

“This is not a boycott,” said Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa sidestepped questions from reporters on whether he still expected Trump to come to the G20 heads of state summit in November, saying, “We are hopeful that we will have as many leaders as possible that will be able to come. The absence of some leaders is not the end of the world, as long as the G2o family is able to meet and discuss important issues and come out with a declaration”.

In his opening address to the first G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Africa earlier on Thursday, Ramaphosa stuck to his guns on the gathering’s themes of solidarity, equality and sustainability.

“Our modern-day challenges can only be resolved through partnership, solidarity and collaboration,” he said. He spoke at length about the uneven impacts of climate change on Africa and the developing world in general.

“The climate crisis is no longer a threat; it is a catastrophic reality,” he said.

Taking questions from reporters on Thursday evening, Ramaphosa said the majority of countries in Africa were reeling from the impacts of the climate crisis – “suffering from what we did not cause – climate change – and our stories need to be heard”.

Read more: South Africa can count on France’s full support in fighting poverty and climate change

“This is the time that the G20 gives us as Africans to put our issues on the global agenda. And I do believe that we’ve got a cohort of countries in the G20, and those that have been invited, who are willing to listen to Africa’s story; to Africa’s narrative. African nations have powerful stories to tell on a number of issues,” he said.

US Chargé d’Affaires to South Africa Dana Brown at the official opening of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting at Nasrec in Johannesburg on 20 February 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / Alet Pretorius)

French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot at the official opening of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting. (Photo: Gallo Images / Alet Pretorius)

President Cyril Ramaphosa receives a courtesy call from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on the margins of the G20 foreign ministers meeting held at Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg. (Photo: Jairus Mmutle / GCIS)

Ramaphosa urged the countries that had contributed to climate change the most to “do something positive” in dealing with climate change.

Trump has withdrawn the US from the Paris Agreement and quickly dismantled support for the energy transition.

The G20 meeting has taken shape as a show of solidarity with SA by significant powers such as Russia, China, India, Canada and the EU, all of which have sent their ranking ministers to the meeting.

President Cyril Ramaphosa with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the margins of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Johannesburg. (Photo: Jairus Mmutle / GCIS)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov landed early on Thursday morning, as did Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Russian media quoted Lavrov as saying the meeting was a “landmark event for Pretoria and the entire African continent”.

Lavrov said the event could be used to teach “Western colleagues to work productively together, rather than to impose their unilateral approaches”, according to reports. Russia is in unprecedented ‘toenadering’ with the US, and it may become an ally as South Africa seeks to mitigate the impact of aid and trade cuts threatened by the superpower.

Canadian foreign minister Mélanie Joly said her country stood ready to support South Africa’s G20 presidency, while EU foreign minister Kaja Kallas has said the same. (See this report by Peter Fabricius.)

Ramaphosa lamented “a lack of consensus among major powers on how to respond to these issues of global significance”, but said that the G20 had to grapple with the impacts of climate change and crippling debt and had to restore faith in multilateralism.

South Africa’s challenge is to find its space in a multipolar world that is quickly fracturing. The US is taking unprecedented geopolitical positions, including damaging its long-standing transatlantic relationship with Europe. At the Munich Security Conference a fortnight ago, US Vice President JD Vance stunned his European hosts when he identified that continent’s big risk as internal rather than Russian; he also deepened an alliance with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

“The nations of the world look to the G20 for leadership and guidance on the most pressing issues,” said Ramaphosa, who also raised reform to global multilateral forums, including the Security Council and the international financial institutions, as pressing issues.

He set out the four-point agenda for two days of talks:

Action to strengthen disaster resilience. “We feel climate-induced disasters acutely on this continent which cannot afford the costs of recovery and rebuilding. We urge the global community, as well as development banks, to scale up post-disaster reconstruction.”

Debt sustainability for low-income countries. Ramaphosa said indebted countries now experienced the highest borrowing costs in two decades. He said poor countries pay up to eight times more for debt-servicing costs, which crowd out vital domestic expenditures and divert developmental resources. He said three billion people lived in countries where debt payments outstripped education spending by multiples.

Mobilising investments for a just energy transition (JET). This transition to renewable forms of energy had to be “just”. This is where developing countries received aid and low-interest loans to change their energy markets. South Africa was doing well with a kitty of support for its JET standing at just under $12-billion, according to officials.

“Those most responsible for climate change have a duty and responsibility to support those least responsible. (This means) increased quality and quantity of climate flows. The G20 forum is a credible forum to take these discussions forward,” said Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa said the exploitation of critical minerals needed for this transition was also a key point of negotiation for the G20. Africa is rich in the new big minerals.

For more on the G20 foreign ministers meeting, read this report. DM

Additional reporting by Victoria O’Regan

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