Johannesburg: South Africa announced that it will formally hand over the G20 presidency to the United States anytime from Monday, stressing that the transition will be conducted at an “appropriate” and “equivalent” diplomatic level. The decision comes after US President Donald Trump boycotted the Johannesburg G20 Summit.
Speaking to journalists on Saturday, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, said the government had informed the US Embassy that it welcomed Washington’s request to proceed with the leadership handover.
Lamola noted, however, that the US had only designated a chargé d’affaires to attend, rather than a senior representative. He emphasized that South Africa did not want to strain relations but believed that a summit involving heads of state and senior officials required a handover between counterparts of similar rank—not between President Cyril Ramaphosa and a junior US official.
“The handover must happen at the head-of-state level, or at least by a minister duly delegated by the President of the United States,” Lamola said, citing remarks published by the Mail and Guardian. Since the US has now assigned a chargé d’affaires, he added, South Africa will arrange the ceremony between officials of equal standing at the DIRCO offices from Monday onwards.
Lamola confirmed that the G20 Leaders’ Declaration was adopted with overwhelming support from more than 42 participating nations. Argentina did not join the consensus as President Javier Milei also skipped the summit alongside Trump, though he was represented by Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno.
The declaration was approved a day earlier than scheduled, following extensive discussions in the preceding week.
Lamola said the adoption of the document marked progress in strengthening cooperation between global regions. “The Leaders’ Declaration is a step toward multilateralism and toward building a bridge between the Global North and the Global South,” he said.
He added that its implementation would benefit the entire African continent, supported by the recently concluded Compact with Africa.
