ISTANBUL 

The G20 leaders’ summit opened on Saturday in Johannesburg, South Africa, with President Cyril Ramaphosa delivering the first address as delegates gathered for two days of talks.

Ramaphosa told leaders that South Africa had used its G20 presidency, overseeing about 130 meetings at home and abroad, to uphold the forum’s integrity as it broadened from macroeconomic policy to a wide agenda spanning trade, development, health, energy, climate and other global challenges.

In line with South Africa’s G20 theme of “solidarity, equality and sustainability,” the first G20 summit ever held on the African continent under Pretoria’s presidency is expected to focus on debt relief for low-income countries, a major barrier to inclusive growth across the developing world.

The South African leader said solidarity is key to creating an inclusive future for those most at risk, noting that in an interconnected world, the challenges of one country inevitably affect all others.

“By promoting equality, we strive to ensure fair treatment and equal opportunities for the individuals and nations of the world,” he said, warning that persistent disparities in wealth and development remain unjust, unsustainable and a major obstacle to global progress.

“It is essential that we break down divisions of economic status, of gender, of race and geography,” he added.

Ramaphosa said, as a founding G20 member, South Africa has worked to ensure that the development priorities of Africa and the global South are “firmly and permanently” reflected on the G20 agenda, a goal vital not only for the region but for the world.

“It is vital for global stability and security, alleviating resource pressures, managing population movements and reducing the risk of conflict,” he said.

He said stability attracts investment, and thriving economies generate the resources needed to address today’s threats, including geopolitical tensions, climate change, pandemics, energy and food insecurity, inequality and unemployment.

The world leaders will also tackle climate adaptation and the shift to clean energy, among other priorities.

The agenda includes discussions on internal cooperation and the bloc’s strategic direction, while leaders are set to hold a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the two-day gathering.

'4 high-level priorities'

Ramaphosa said South Africa’s G20 presidency set four high-level priorities: strengthening disaster resilience for countries unable to bear recovery costs, ensuring debt sustainability for low-income nations with a focus on the most vulnerable, mobilizing finance for a just energy transition and increasing climate finance for developing economies, and harnessing critical minerals for inclusive growth through local beneficiation.

South Africa’s Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said this week that 42 countries are expected to participate in the country’s historic G20 summit.

The US, a founding member of the G20, has boycotted this year’s summit.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced that he would not send an American official to Johannesburg for the meeting, accusing South Africa of “human rights abuses” against the white Afrikaner population – claims the South African government has repeatedly rejected as unfounded.

This year, relations between Washington and Pretoria plunged to their lowest over disagreements on both foreign and domestic policies.

“We should not allow anything to diminish the value, the stature and the impact of the first African G20 presidency,” Ramaphosa said.

“This G20 Leaders’ Summit has a responsibility not to allow the integrity and the credibility of the G20 to be weakened. In fact, from this summit, we should have a sense that the G20 has been strengthened,” he said.

Established in 1999, the G20 comprises 19 countries and two regional bodies – the EU and the African Union.