South Africa announced Saturday that G-20 leaders adopted a summit declaration at the very start of their meeting, breaking with protocol and moving ahead unanimously without the United States, which is boycotting the two-day gathering amid a diplomatic dispute with the host nation.
Vincent Magwenya, the spokesperson for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, said a leaders' declaration was adopted unanimously by the other members at the start of the talks in Johannesburg.
"Normally the adoption of the declaration happens right at the end. But... there was a sense that we should actually move to have the summit declaration adopted first as the first order of the day," Magwenya told reporters.
There were no details of what was in the declaration, but South Africa promoted it as a victory for the first G-20 summit to be held in Africa that has been overshadowed by the U.S. boycott ordered by President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration had put pressure on South Africa not to adopt a leaders' declaration in the absence of an American delegation, South African officials said.
