Overview
- South Africa will host leaders in Johannesburg on Nov. 22–23 for the 20th G20 summit, with India’s Narendra Modi attending and Russia’s Vladimir Putin absent, while China is represented by Premier Li Qiang.
- The Africa Expert Panel’s report handed to President Cyril Ramaphosa urges a new debt‑refinancing mechanism for vulnerable countries and proposes sales of part of the IMF’s gold reserves through a transparent process.
- Washington has said no U.S. officials will attend and has asked members not to adopt a Leaders’ Declaration, posing a direct challenge to the G20’s consensus‑based outcome.
- The formal agenda centers on inclusive growth, development financing and debt relief, climate resilience and just energy transitions, and concludes with discussions on critical minerals, decent work and AI governance.
- Security has been tightened in Johannesburg with an extra 3,500 police deployed and the army on standby as protests are expected, while domestic critics question the summit’s benefits for South Africans.