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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa officially closed the Group of Twenty meeting in Johannesburg by striking a gavel, after rejecting a American suggestion for him to hand over duties to a relatively junior embassy official for the next summit in Florida.

Event Overshadowed by US Boycott

The host nation portrayed the 48-hour conference as a victory for global cooperation, but it was diminished by a withdrawal of the United States, which has consistently alleged South Africa of showing bias toward white-minority Afrikaners—a claim that has been widely discredited.

“We’ve met in the face of major obstacles and shown our capacity to unite, even in periods of hardship, to strive for global improvement,” the president declared in his final address.

Concluding his remarks, he noted: “This gavel of this G20 summit officially concludes this summit and now moves on to the next president of the G20, which is the United States, where we shall reconvene next year.” This was Ramaphosa’s sole reference of the nation absent from the gathering of the world’s largest economies.

G20 Declaration Focuses On Climate Change and Equal Rights

The G20 issued a declaration on Saturday stressing the importance to address environmental crises and achieve “equal opportunities for all genders.” The Trump government had pulled out of the Paris environmental accord on the initial day of his second term and has reversed many policies designed to tackle sexism, racism and homophobia.

US Administration Reaction

US administration representative Anna Kelly claimed the president of “refusing to facilitate a smooth transition of the G20 presidency.”

“This, coupled with South Africa’s effort to release a G20 leaders’ declaration, despite consistent and robust US objections, underscores the fact that they have exploited their leadership role to undermine the G20’s founding principles,” she remarked.

Handover Protocol Disagreement

South Africa had offered to arrange for an equivalent “junior” diplomat to formally hand the G20 presidency to the US at the foreign ministry. Officials had stated it would violate procedure 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. Our role is complete. The decision is theirs. If they want to come, we are available.”

Upcoming Gathering and Additional Absences

The 2026 summit is set to occur at the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort, which is under Trump corporate ownership.

The nation of Argentina, led by President Javier Milei skipped the summit, also refused to endorse the declaration. Its foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, said: “In particular, it deals with the protracted Middle Eastern dispute in a manner that does not fully reflect its full complexity.”

The G20 document read: “We will work 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 countries plus the EU. The AU was incorporated last year.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum were also not present at the meeting. The Russian president faces an arrest warrant by the ICC, to which South Africa is a member state. The Chinese president has assigned attending many international gatherings this year to China’s premier, Li Qiang.