US vows to refocus G20 on driving growth and prosperity under its presidency

New York: The US has said it will steer the G20 back to its "core mission" of driving economic growth and prosperity by prioritising regulatory reform, energy security and technological innovation during its year-long presidency of the grouping.

America assumed the G20 presidency on December 1.

The State Department in a statement on Monday said under President Donald Trump's leadership, the US will "return the G20 to focusing on its core mission of driving economic growth and prosperity to produce results".

“As we usher in these much-needed reforms, we will prioritise three core themes: unleashing economic prosperity by limiting regulatory burdens, unlocking affordable and secure energy supply chains, and pioneering new technologies and innovations,” it said.

The US will host the G20 Leaders' Summit in Miami, Florida, in 2026, coinciding with the country's 250th anniversary year.

America took over the presidency from South Africa, but Trump did not attend the Johannesburg Summit held last month. He has also said that South Africa will not receive an invitation to the 2026 G20 Summit to be hosted in Miami.

Trump had claimed that the US skipped the Johannesburg summit because South Africa had refused to acknowledge or address what he described as “horrific” human rights abuses against Afrikaners and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers.

“At the conclusion of the G20, South Africa refused to hand off the G20 Presidency to a Senior Representative from our US Embassy, who attended the Closing Ceremony. Therefore, at my direction, South Africa will not be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20," Trump had said.

He added that South Africa has "demonstrated" that it is "not a country worthy of membership anywhere, and we are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately”.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had termed Trump's remarks “regrettable”.

South Africa had assumed the year-long G20 presidency on December 1, 2024, taking over from the previous presidency held by India.

It hosted world leaders in Johannesburg from November 22 to 23, the first time a G20 Summit was held on African soil.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who attended the Johannesburg summit, said the "successful" meeting would contribute to a prosperous and sustainable planet.

The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries, the European Union, and the African Union.

By tradition, the host country hands over a symbolic wooden gavel to the nation taking over the G20 presidency. But there was no American official on hand to receive it from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa because of the boycott.

The US wanted to send a representative from its embassy. South Africa refused, saying it was an insult for Ramaphosa to hand over to what it called a junior official.

The South African Presidency, in a press statement, later said that since the US did not attend the summit, the instruments of the G20 presidency were “duly” handed over to a US Embassy official at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation headquarters.