G20 gyrations threaten multilateral forum’s future

FORMER French president Nicolas Sarkozy once claimed that “the G20 foreshadows the planetary governance of the 21st century”. Yet, this assertion has not worn well more than a decade and a half after the group was upgraded from a finance minister body to one where heads of state now meet too.

As South Africa prepares the more than 1.5 billion population of the African continent to host the G20 for the first time, including a key foreign minister meeting on Thursday (Feb 20) and Friday, the omens are not good for a successful year of diplomacy. The chief concern for the hosts is the stance of the United States under the Trump presidency, which is opposing key planks of the 2025 G20 agenda. This continues a pattern, since the Ukraine war began, of the G20 having much diminished effectiveness in the face of growing global geopolitical divisions.

The latest salvo began when new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that “South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote solidarity, equality, and sustainability. In other words: DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and climate change. My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism”.