Leaders of wealthy and developing nations, members of the Group of Twenty, broke with tradition and adopted a declaration at the outset of the group's summit in South Africa, which is taking place on Saturday and runs for two days. This comes despite opposition from the United States, which boycotted the summit, indicating a diplomatic rift with the host country. Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, stated that the leaders' declaration was unanimously adopted by other members at the start of the talks in Johannesburg. He added, 'The declaration is usually adopted at the end... but there is a feeling that we really need to move to adopt the summit declaration as a top priority first.' No details were provided on the contents of the declaration, but South Africa has touted it as a victory for the first G20 summit in Africa, which was overshadowed by a US boycott ordered by President Donald Trump. South African officials stated that the Trump administration had pressured South Africa not to adopt a leaders' declaration in the absence of the US delegation. The South Africa summit is discussing an ambitious agenda aimed at making progress on resolving some of the long-standing issues plaguing the world's poorest countries. Leaders and senior government officials gathered at an exhibition center near the famed South African township of Soweto, which was previously home to Nelson Mandela.
