“Will South Africa’s G20 be a G20 on the African continent or an African G20?”
It is an honour to address you today, and I extend my sincere appreciation to the Southern African Liaison Office (SALO) for inviting me to speak on the pivotal question of whether South Africa’s G20 will be a G20 on the African continent or an African G20?
As we reflect on this question let’s remember that we gather in October – the month of OR Tambo – remembering the life and ideals one of our founding fathers of South Africa’s Democracy and international relations. Oliver Reginald Tambo taught us that diplomacy is not a performance of power as an end in itself but a means to an end to ensure transformation. He stood for amongst others progressive internationalism, which includes principled multilateralism, respect for the international law, the universality of human rights, Pan-Africanism, and international solidarity. His conviction that “a nation that isolates itself perishes” remains the moral foundation of our engagement with the world. To speak about the G20 during Tambo Month is therefore to speak about the continuity of his vision: a world bound together by amongst others justice, inclusivity, equity and dignity rather than domination.
This year also carries special historical weight. We commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 1955 Bandung Conference, where newly independent states of Asia and Africa declared their right to shape global affairs on the basis of amongst others sovereign equality, mutual respect, and non-interference. Bandung’s guiding principles still resonate today. Seventy years later, the same principles guide Africa’s engagement with a world once again divided between great-power rivalries and global inequality. Thus, when we attempt to answer the question whether South Africa’s G20 will be a G20 on the African continent or an African G20? The manner in which we have responded as chair and shaping the direction and outcomes of the G20 has been informed by these principles espoused by OR Tambo and Bandung.
South Africa’s assumption of the G20 Presidency in December 2024 represents the first time that an African country has assumed this responsibility, and indeed the Johannesburg G20 Summit, scheduled for 22–23 November 2025, will mark a historic milestone: the first time the G20 convenes on African soil.
However, more than this, we have explicitly made clear from the beginning that this would be an African G20. President Cyril Ramaphosa made a commitment, as early as February 2024, during his State of the Nation Address, to place Africa’s development at the top of South Africa’s G20 Presidency.
This moment places Africa at the heart of global decision-making and offers an unprecedented opportunity to reshape the global agenda through an African lens. South Africa’s G20 Presidency is not merely symbolic—it is a defining moment for the Continent.
As Chair, South Africa is uniquely positioned to champion the priorities of emerging markets and to elevate Africa’s development agenda within the G20 framework. Further, our Presidency builds on the successes of the past three Presidencies led by the Global South (Indonesia (2022); India (2023); and Brazil (2024) and is an opportunity for South Africa to champion the aspirations of emerging and developing economies, particularly in Africa.
Having led the call for the African Union to become a full G20 member in 2023, we have been working closely with the African Union and its members throughout our Presidency to ensure that the priorities and objectives of the African Union remain front and centre of the G20 agenda.
Therefore, the AU’s six priorities for its participation in the G20 all find expression in South Africa’s theme, high-level deliverables and the priorities being advanced in the various Working Groups and Task Teams under both the Sherpa and Finance Tracks.
These six priorities are as follows:
- Achieving Agenda 2063 and its Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan and the UN Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030.
- Reform of the International Financial Architecture.
- International Food Security and Agriculture.
- Just Energy Transition.
- Trade and Investment.
- Health and Vaccine Manufacturing.
Further, we have extended invitations to a number of African countries to attend G20 meetings this year, as well as Summit, to expand the African voice. In order to further entrench the fact that this is an African G20, we held the Third Task Force 2 Meeting on Food Security in Cairo, Egypt from 1 to 3 September 2025.
The G20 Compact with Africa 2.0 took place on the margins of the 8th Session of the African Union Specialised Technical Committee (STC) on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration in Johannesburg, from 29 September to 3 October 2025.
A Meeting on Industrialisation and Agriculture will take place in Abuja, Nigeria, in October 2025, while a High-level Meeting entitled “Debt and the Cost of Capital: From Addis Ababa through Seville to Johannesburg” will take place, in partnership with the Finance Track, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in October 2025. There is also an undertaking by Algeria to host a meeting in Algiers.
This African leadership of the G20 comes at a time when the world faces a convergence of crises—geopolitical tensions, climate change, pandemics, energy and food insecurity, rising inequality, and armed conflict. The UN Secretary-General has aptly described this as a “global polycrisis”. These overlapping threats are deepening hardship and derailing our collective progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), now just five years from their 2030 deadline. South Africa’s G20 Presidency, under the Theme Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability has put forward a set of strategic priorities aimed at addressing pressing challenges faced by the Global Community, in particular countries of the Global South, including those across the African continent.
Our task during South Africa’s Presidency has been to ensure that Africa’s voice translates into influence, that its priorities are reflected in outcomes, and that reform of the global financial architecture moves from aspiration to action.
We have placed Africa at the centre of discussions on international financial architecture, development finance, and global economic governance.
Most importantly, our Presidency has not been about rhetoric; it has been about delivery.
Allow me to highlight the measurable outcomes that mark this milestone year.
Extraordinary Committee on Global Inequality:
In August 2025, President Ramaphosa launched the G20 Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Wealth Inequality, chaired by Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz. For the first time in the history of the G20, inequality is being addressed not as a peripheral issue, but as a systemic challenge that undermines growth, peace, and stability.
The Committee has four objectives:
- To stimulate global attention on the surge in wealth and income inequality.
- To forge alliances between governments and civil society against inequality.
- To provide credible, evidence-based analysis on its economic and social impacts.
- To propose solutions — from progressive taxation to debt reform and just transition mechanisms.
The Committee’s inaugural report, due in November this year, will mark the first of its kind on global inequality. This will not only shape debates within our forum, but also influence development financing, multilateral reform, and national policies across the globe.
The G20 Africa Cooperation Agenda (ACA):
Another landmark outcome of our Presidency is the G20 Africa Cooperation Agenda (ACA). Building on Agenda 2063 and aligned with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the ACA provides a practical framework for investment in Africa’s productive sectors, health security, infrastructure, and digital economy.
The ACA is not a declaration; it is a roadmap. It identifies specific projects under three pillars:
Implementation of the AfCFTA, including support for the Adjustment Fund, digital trade protocols, and investment facilitation.
Investments into Africa’s productive sectors, such as local pharmaceutical manufacturing, agricultural modernisation, green industrialisation, and value-addition of critical minerals.
Regional infrastructure integration, through the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), encompassing water, transport, energy, and ICT projects.
The ACA, jointly housed by the African Union and the African Development Bank, will ensure continuity and African leadership. It represents not just cooperation, but co-ownership.
Coupled with this work, we have been working with our G20 partners, including the AU Commission and Germany, to champion an elevated and broadened Compact with Africa (CwA) initiative, which will be driven by Agenda 2063, and particularly, the Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan. It will be designed to translate policy frameworks into scaled-up inclusive growth, industrialisation, employment and reduced inequality impacts in Africa; and to facilitate economic reforms across the continent, and to attract investment from pools of private-sector funds in the global North.
South Africa is also reviewing the Cost of Capital during our G20 Presidency. The overarching goal of this initiative is to investigate the issues that impair the ability of low- and middle-income countries to access sufficient affordable and predictable flows of capital to finance their environmentally responsible and socially inclusive development plans.
It is for this reason that a G20 Africa Expert Panel, chaired by our former Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, has been set up by the Finance Track to investigate the Impediments to Growth and Development in Africa, including the Cost of Capital. The Panel is expected to produce a High-Level Report with key recommendations for the Leader’s consideration.
Progress on SDR Rechannelling and MDB Reform:
A recurring demand of Africa has been the rechannelling of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and the reform of Multilateral Development Banks. Our Presidency has advanced both.
We have secured commitments to channel a significant portion of unused SDRs to the African Development Bank and other regional development banks, thereby ensuring that liquidity support reaches where it is most needed. Furthermore, progress has been made toward implementing the G20’s Capital Adequacy Framework review, unlocking additional lending headroom for MDBs and lowering the cost of capital for developing economies.
AfCFTA and ACA-linked Projects:
The operationalisation of the AfCFTA is Africa’s most transformative economic initiative. Under our Presidency, G20 members reaffirmed their support for the AfCFTA’s implementation.
Under the ACA, projects such as One-Stop Border Posts and renewable energy corridors are already moving forward, reducing trade costs and integrating African markets into global value chains.
Debt Sustainability for Low-Income Countries:
Debt remains a heavy anchor on development. South Africa’s Presidency has pushed for accelerated implementation of the Common Framework for Debt Treatments, while also championing innovative instruments such as climate-resilient debt clauses.
Restructuring agreements concluded this year have already freed fiscal space in several low-income countries — space that is now being directed towards education, health, and climate resilience.
Just Energy Transition Financing Commitments:
Climate change is a defining challenge of our time, and Africa’s just energy transition is central to the global response. This ensures that Africa can industrialise while transitioning, avoiding the trap of sacrificing development in the name of climate goals.
Building on South Africa’s own Just Energy Transition Partnership, we advanced the principle that financing must be concessional, predictable, and aligned with national development strategies. Africa will not accept an energy transition that deepens inequality or limits industrialisation.
Africa’s Strategic Priorities in Global Governance:
Beyond measurable outcomes, our Presidency has underscored the broader themes that will shape Africa’s role in global economic governance.
These include:
Critical Minerals and Beneficiation:
Africa holds a third of the world’s critical minerals – essential for the clean energy transition. However, to remain only exporters of raw materials would be to repeat the mistakes of the past. Our message has been clear: beneficiation, localisation, and technology transfer must be non-negotiable.
This is not a demand for charity; it is a proposal for stable, resilient supply chains. Value-addition on African soil creates jobs, reduces vulnerability, and ensures that the green transition benefits all.
Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation:
Digital sovereignty is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity. Africa cannot afford to be a passive consumer of digital technologies. Under our Presidency, the G20 has acknowledged the need for digital transformation — expanding affordable connectivity and addressing the governance of artificial intelligence.
Significantly, during the G20 Conference on AI in Africa on 30 September, UNESCO, in coordination with the South African Presidency, launched the AI Initiative for Africa, an ambitious and structured roadmap that puts artificial intelligence at the service of Africa. The emphasis is on innovative solutions and initiatives to enable the development of artificial intelligence on the continent. The key focus is to spur endogenous momentum in Africa, by training 15000 civil servants and 5000 judicial personnel on the use of AI and the challenges posed by digital transformation. The UNESCO Technology Support Centre will also be implementing the Technology Policy Assistance Facility – a digital policy assistance tool that will assist policymakers in G20 member countries as well as developing countries, enabling them to create tailor-made roadmaps for the use of AI at the national level, aligned with international standards.
Food Security and Agriculture:
With vast arable land and growing innovation in sustainable agriculture, Africa can be both self-sufficient and a breadbasket for the world. Yet climate shocks and rising input costs threaten this potential.
The G20 Sustainable Food Systems Task Force has recognised Africa’s central role, and our Presidency has worked to channel investment into agricultural modernisation under the CAADP framework. Food security is not only an economic issue; it is a moral imperative, and Africa stands ready to lead in providing sustainable solutions.
Inequality and Inclusive Growth:
Inequality corrodes trust, weakens economies, and fuels instability. Through the Extraordinary Committee on Inequality, through debt relief, and through commitments on SMEs and digital inclusion, our Presidency has placed inclusive growth at the heart of South Africa’s G20 agenda.
Africa’s development cannot be measured solely in GDP terms. It must be measured in jobs created, children educated, and opportunities expanded.
Africa’s Role in Global Economic Governance:
Africa is no longer a peripheral player in the global economy. With the AU at the G20 table, with Agenda 2063 as our blueprint, and with the AfCFTA as our flagship, Africa is asserting its rightful place.
Reform of the global financial and trading systems is essential. It is not sustainable that decisions affecting billions are made without adequate representation. Our Presidency has pushed for a rebalancing of power — within the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO — to ensure fairness, legitimacy, and effectiveness.
Similarly, in terms of global economic governance, South Africa views the adoption of the voluntary and non-binding high-level principles for combatting Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) by the G20 Development Working Group as key in addressing the debilitating economic and development impact of IFFs on our Continent.
We believe that through our strategic priorities of (1) Strengthening Disaster Resilience and Response; (2) Ensuring Debt Sustainability for Low-Income Countries; (3) Mobilising Finance for a Just Energy Transition; and (4) Harnessing Critical Minerals for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development, as well as the three Task Forces we created, focusing on: (1) Inclusive Economic Growth, Industrialisation, Employment, and Reduced Inequality; (2) Food Security; and (3) Artificial Intelligence, Data Governance and Innovation for Sustainable Development, we have ensured that this G20 Presidency will leave a lasting impact on Africa’s economic transformation.
By placing the issues we have on the G20 agenda, South Africa is pushing for structural reforms and greater international accountability to ensure Africa’s resources fuel its growth—not its losses.
In this decisive year – Bandung @ 70, Freedom Charter @ 70, UNGA @ 80, and OR Tambo Month – South Africa stands as a bridge between history and hope. Our G20 Presidency reaffirms that the fate of Africa and the fate of the world are intertwined. If Africa rises, the world recovers; if Africa falters, the world fractures.
As we look toward the Johannesburg Summit, we understand that this G20 is not merely a meeting; it is a moment of moral reckoning and renewal. South Africa’s Presidency is a clarion call to action: to build a more equitable, inclusive and just global order, to elevate African voices, and to ensure that the G20 becomes not just a forum on African soil—but a truly African G20.
The Johannesburg G20 Summit will thus stand as a testament that leadership from the Global South can deliver substance, stability, and solidarity. It will show that Africa is not the periphery of progress but its pulse.
As OR Tambo once said, “The fight for peace and justice is the fight for humanity itself.” Let us therefore rise to this occasion with unity, clarity of purpose, and conviction – to ensure that South Africa’s G20 is not only a G20 on African soil but a truly African G20 – a G20 that speaks for our continent, acts for our people, and reshapes the architecture of global governance in the image of equity and hope.
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