When South Africa takes over the G20 Presidency later this year, it will focus on the priorities of Africa and the Global South.
That was the message from President Cyril Ramaphosa who has just returned from representing South Africa at the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The General Assembly was preceded by the Summit of the Future convened by the UN Secretary-General to forge a new international consensus on the most pressing issues facing the world today.
The summit aimed to mobilise greater support for the achievement by 2030 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Many countries, particularly those with developing economies, are falling behind in meeting their targets, mainly due to a lack of funds.
It culminated in the adoption of the ‘Pact for the Future’, which reaffirms that extreme poverty is the greatest global challenge. It seeks to hold member states to their existing commitments to support sustainable development.
In his address to the UN General Assembly last week, Ramaphosa reiterated South Africa’s position that sustainable development can only be achieved when it is being driven by inclusive, responsive and agile multilateral institutions.
This means that bodies like the United Nations and financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund need to be fundamentally reformed.
“As South Africa, we endorsed the call made in the Pact for the Future for global financial institutions that are better, bigger and bolder, and are able to address the scale of the challenges facing the world,” he said.
The pact presents the world with an opportunity not only to bridge the development divide, but also to reinvigorate the multilateral system. It is an opportunity to move forward on the long-overdue reform of the global governance architecture, including the UN Security Council.
“At a time when threats to international peace and security are many and complex, we can no longer place the world’s security in the hands of a few major powers when all countries are affected,” he said.
South Africa will assume the G20 Presidency from December 1 to November 2025, approximately five years before the deadline of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Ramaphosa said that as a signatory to the Pact for the Future, the country aimed to push for people-driven, sustainable development.
“All the nations of the world have a right to development, and better resourced countries have a responsibility to support countries with developing economies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” he said.
The G20 is a group of 19 countries, as well as the African Union and the European Union, which defines itself as the premier forum for global economic cooperation.
It brings together leaders and policymakers from the world’s major economies to discuss key economic, development and social issues. G20 members represent around 80% of global GDP, 75% of global exports and 60% of the global population.
The Pact for the Future commits member states to strengthen multilateral action towards a New Agenda for Peace.
– SAnews.gov.za
