 "A person arrives at the O.R. Tambo International Airport, as South Africa prepares to host the G20 Summit from November 22 to 23, in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Thursday. Reuters")
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday said the United States had indicated it might reconsider its decision to boycott the G20 summit in Johannesburg, but the White House dismissed the report as “fake news”.
“We have received notice from the United States, a notice which we are still in discussions with them over, about a change of mind, about participating in one shape or form or other in the summit,” Reuters quoted Ramaphosa as saying during a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa.
“This comes in the days before the summit. And so therefore we need to engage in those types of discussions to see how practical it is and what it finally really means,” he added.
The Trump administration had previously announced it would skip the first-ever G20 summit in Africa, accusing the host nation — South Africa, which was governed under a white-minority apartheid regime until 1994 — of discriminating against white citizens.
On Thursday, a White House official clarified that while a US envoy would attend the formal handover ceremony of the G20 presidency from South Africa to the United States, Washington would not take part in the summit itself.
“This is fake news. The chargé d’affaires in Pretoria will attend the handover ceremony as a formality, but the United States is not joining G20 discussions,” they added.
Trump has rejected South Africa’s agenda for the November 22-23 summit of promoting solidarity and helping developing nations adapt to worse weather disasters, transition to clean energy and cut their excessive debt costs.
Ramaphosa said last week of the handover of the G20 presidency to the United States: “I don’t want to hand over to an empty chair, but the empty chair will be there”.
With inputs from agencies