South Africa’s G20 summit resilient despite absence of the US

As South Africa prepares to host the upcoming G20 summit in Johannesburg, the absence of United States (US) President Donald Trump has sparked considerable discussion.

South Africa’s High Commissioner to India, Professor Anil Sooklal, has expressed regret over this high-profile absence, but showed confidence in the resilience of the G20’s framework.

Sooklal aired his views in an exclusive interview with World is One News (WION), describing Trump's absence from the G20 as regrettable, saying: “It’s unfortunate that as the most powerful global economy that we don’t have the USA around the table.”  

He stated that the US absence will definitely have an impact on the G20 summit, but that it is unlikely to undermine the outcome.

“The G20 has been and continues to be a collective of countries addressing our common challenges and working together in an inclusive way. So, if one country is absent from the table, it doesn't mean the whole table is paralysed. Yes, there's a gap there, but you have 18 other countries and two major regional organisations sitting around the table, working together in tandem,” Sooklal said. 

He said it is a lost opportunity that the US would not be in attendance, but the door remains open for them to join. 

“I can assure you we’ll have a substantive summit because we have the full commitment of all G20 members that are attending, as well as all of the heads of the major multilateral institutions that are part of the G20 and all of the guest countries that are so keen to be around the table,” Sooklal said. 

He said that not being present for the summit is not just a snub to the G20 or South Africa, but a snub to an entire African continent of 1.45 billion. 

With questions arising on how South Africa will hand over to the US if they are not at the summit, Sooklal explained that the handover to the US is symbolic, and its status is uncertain without a high-level US delegation at the summit.

He, however, said the US automatically assumes the chair on December 1, regardless of the symbolic gavel handover.

He added that it remains a challenge to be determined in the coming days if the absent US will endorse  a declaration when it is finally issued at the summit.

“But I don’t think the success of the G20 is just based on the declaration. The success of the G20 is based on the work that has been undertaken through all the work streams, the ministerial work stream, the expert groups, the sherpa track, the finance track and the technical groups, who have been working consistently and producing outcome documents. This summit is a cascading of all of that into one document,” he said. 

“And if we don’t have a consensus document, it doesn’t mean that all the positive work and outcomes that have been done throughout the chairship of South Africa in this almost past 12 months are negated. That is still going to be there, and it has had substantive outcomes, and that will be the legacy of South Africa handing over to the next chair and taking forward the G20.” 

thobeka.ngema@inl.co.za