President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ambition to have the G20 Leaders’ Summit issue a declaration is within reach, with sources telling Sowetan’s sister publication, TimesLIVE the Sherpas are close to a final agreement.
A government insider who spoke to TimesLIVE said they were positive South Africa’s presidency would produce a declaration from leaders present at the summit this weekend. The US’ absence would be noted, they said.
They said the member states’ negotiators have been working through the night this week to come up with an outcome that all heads of state would endorse.
Mainly, the sticking points are around foreign policy, but rest assured, we will have a declaration
“We are 80% done. The Sherpas are agreeing, and it’s more of the wording of some aspects of the agreements that they need to iron out. Mainly, the sticking points are around foreign policy, but rest assured, we will have a declaration,” they said.
The insider added that Ramaphosa has been briefed by the South African team, claiming that the president was in high spirits.
Another insider said that there was already a zero draft that had been finalised.
“Negotiations take place line by line, which means every single word is a negotiation. Even the slightest comma will cause a point of contention. This means they have a draft text they will be working on. The Sherpas have to be careful around language. Remember, contestation is on the language in geopolitics. So what you are likely to see is a more measured language around issues like Russia and Ukraine and the Middle East,” they said.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Ramaphosa said the Sherpas were edging closer towards a declaration. He said they were now “dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s”.
This comes as Pretoria has been pushing back against the US’ alleged plans to sabotage the South African G20 presidency.
TimesLIVE reported on Wednesday that the US had written to Pretoria, warning against making a G20 declaration without its presence at the summit.
This was seen as a last-ditch attempt by the US to undermine South Africa’s G20 presidency. Negotiations have been ongoing between Pretoria and other G20 member states to agree on a summit declaration.
TimesLIVE understands that the US has made attempts to bully allies into not agreeing to a leader’s declaration during the summit.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the absence of the US is of no consequence to the declarations, adding the G20 is a consensus-based organisation.
“We have a summit that is being attended by the 19 countries that are members of the G20, plus the EU and the AU. We need to respect those countries that have remained committed to the process of a successful G20 year.”
Magwenya said the commitment by the member states was not anti-US but rather a commitment to the process and the principles of the G20, adding it would be a commitment of the individual governments to their own citizens and the rest of the world.
He said the G20 should not be looked at as the world versus the US.
“This is a principled issue. We are not in a contest with the US, or any country for that matter. This is about 85% of the world’s GDP and 75% of global trade. This is about the present and future of our world collectively. So if one country decides that this year it’s going to abandon its responsibility, the rest of the world is not going to do that. The issues that are being discussed are global issues. South Africa, as the president of the G20, has the responsibility to facilitate the process, that is all,” he said.
TimesLIVE
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