G20 leaders gathered in Johannesbourg, South Africa have adopted a major declaration with a broad concensus despite US absence at the summit.
President Donald Trump’s boycott dominated the pre-talks discussions in Johannesburg.
“I do regret it,” French President Emmanuel Macron said of Trump’s absence.
“But it should not block us. Our duty is to be present, engage and work all together because we have so many challenges.”
The organisation declared that it will work towards the settlement of armed conflicts and lighten the burden of the developing nations in the world.
This edition of the G20 summit is the first of its kind to be held on African soil. It convened on Saturday with an ambitious agenda to make progress on solving some of the longstanding problems that have afflicted the world’s poorest nations.
Part of the declaration mentions that the organisation will work for a comprehensive and lasting peace in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the occupied Palestinian territory and Ukraine.
Included in the declaration is the seriousness of climate change, in a snub to US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly cast aspersions and doubts on the scientific consensus that global warming is caused by human activities.
It stressed that increasing large-scale disasters disproportionately affect people in vulnerable situations in ways that exacerbate poverty and inequality, adding that a high level of debt is one of the obstacles to inclusive growth in many developing economies.
“We are committed to strengthen the implementation of the G20 common framework for debt treatments in a predictable, timely, orderly, and coordinated manner,” the declaration said.
“Critical minerals should become a catalyst for value-addition and broad-based development, rather than just raw material exports,” it added.
Founded in 1999, The G20 is actually a group of 21 members that includes 19 nations, the European Union, and the African Union.
