President Ramaphosa concludes his G20 Argentina visit
President Cyril Ramaphosa has today, Saturday, 01 December 2018, concluded his visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina where he led South Africa’s delegation to the G20 Summit.
The G20, which accounts for 80 percent of global gross domestic product, was formed in 1999 to bring stability to the global financial system, promote long-term sustainable growth and strengthen global financial governance and has since expanded its agenda beyond economic and financial issues to encompass geopolitical matters and issues of peace and security, global governance, environment and international terrorism.
The Summit was chaired by President Mauricio Macri under the theme “Building consensus for fair and sustainable development”, which Argentina selected for its year-long presidency of the G20. Following this Summit, Japan will assume the G20 Presidency.
Ahead of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, President Ramaphosa chaired an informal meeting of BRICS leaders as part of securing alignment among Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa as emerging economies in their contribution to the G20 Summit.
The BRICS leaders exchanged views on international political, security and global economic-financial issues, as well as challenges facing sustainable development.
The leaders recommitted themselves to a world of peace and stability, the central role of the United Nations, the purposes and principles enshrined in the UN Charter, and respect for international law, the promotion of democracy and the rule of law.
They also reiterated their commitment to working together to strengthen multilateralism and promote a fair, just, equitable, democratic and representative international order.
BRICS Heads of State and Government deplored continued terrorist attacks, including against some BRICS countries, and condemned terrorism in all forms and manifestations. The leaders called upon all nations to adopt a comprehensive approach in combating terrorism, including all the elements identified in the Johannesburg Declaration.
During his visit to the Argentinian capital, President Ramaphosa held a number of bilateral meetings with Heads of State and Government as well as United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) António Guterres and African Union (AU) Chair and President of Rwanda Paul Kagame.
In these meetings President Ramaphosa engaged his counterparts on various forms of cooperation including the deepening of trade and investment that is expected to contribute to job creation in South Africa and the achievement of inclusive and sustainable growth.
Some of these engagements centred on the role South Africa will play in the multilateral arena when it assumes a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council in 2019-20 – the third time that the country has done so.
Following his meeting with the UN Secretary-General, President Ramaphosa set aside time to place a video call to Banyana Banyana, to assure the national women’s football team of the nation’s support for them in their Total Africa Women Cup of Nations (Awcon) final against Nigeria, played in Accra, Ghana, on Saturday 1 December 2018.
Upon his return from Argentina, President Ramaphosa will participate in the Global Citizen Festival in Johannesburg, which forms part of the global observance of the centenary of the birth of Founding President Nelson Mandela.
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