Poorer nations at the Group of 20 summit in South Africa have urged world leaders to address climate action and debt issues affecting the developing world.

The G20's leadership is heading away from the Global South just as debt problems in poorer countries threaten to flare again, testing whether the group's ambitions on debt relief will translate into action under a United States presidency.

The first G20 summit in Africa issued a leaders' joint declaration on the opening day of the talks rather than at the end of the summit. The declaration was significant in that it came in the face of fierce opposition from the US which has for months been critical of a South African agenda for the group that largely focused on climate change and global wealth inequality.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA | TASS | In an joint declaration, adopted during the summit in Johannesburg, leaders of the Group of Twenty (G20) said they were determined to increase the role of the African continent in the group and in global processes in general.

In his opening remarks at the India-South Africa delegation-level talks, President Ramaphosa thanked India for its support in hosting the G20 leaders’ summit.

The 2025 instalment promised to be something of an outlier in that regard. It was the first to be held on the continent of Africa and the first, arguably, to be held in a developing country, South Africa.

Since US designated charge d'affaires for handover, South Africa 'will accord them equivalent respect' by designating someone 'appropriate, equal, equivalent of the charge' - Anadolu Ajansı

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the first-ever G20 Leaders’ Summit on African soil must reflect the aspirations of both the continent and the wider global community.