South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has said that the G20 Summit successfully allowed for critical engagement on efforts to address major global economic challenges.
The summit was attended by the Heads of State and Government of the G20 member countries which collectively account for 85% of global economic activity and two-thirds of the world’s population.
The Presidency said on Sunday that in the interest of advancing African development, the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the timely implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.
“There are also enhanced roles for the World Bank, African Development Bank and International Monetary Fund to implement the Compact with Africa. This initiative will contribute to the realisation of the African Union’s Agenda 2063,” the Presidency said.
On trade and investment, the Summit committed to working towards a free, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent, predictable, stable and open market environment.
On digitalisation, global leaders agreed that to harness the full potential of data, there needs to be a data flow with trust to be enabled through international policy discussions on the sharing of good practices and regulatory frameworks.
Looking ahead, the leaders of the G20 committed to implementing the anti-corruption action plan for 2019-2021, which strengthens synergies among related international instruments.
There was also a strong will among the majority of the member countries to pursue the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement’s goals of dealing with climate change.
These will be in addition to their efforts to curbing illicit financial flows.
President Ramaphosa used the summit to solidify relations with several countries. Among them were the standing trilateral meeting with the African Union Chair, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and NEPAD Chair President Macky Sall of Senegal.
The Presidency said these discussions made it possible for these leaders to consolidate Africa’s position around the summit’s agenda.
President Ramaphosa was also invited to participate in the China-Africa Leaders Meeting which exchanged views on the priorities for G20, FOCAC and Africa’s development agenda.
The President also participated in the standing informal BRICS Leaders’ Meeting that was chaired by Brazil which reflected on the current geo-political environment and sought collaboration and synergies among BRICS members in preparation for the G20 Leaders’ Summit.
President Ramaphosa also had numerous bilateral meetings to strengthen relations with Russia, China, Japan and Saudi Arabia and the President of the World Bank.
The President concluded his Osaka programme by engaging with business during the Japan-South Africa CEO Business Roundtable which was led by Minister Ebrahim Patel of Trade and Industry.This meeting was also attended by more than 20 Japanese business representatives and a South African business contingent who explored business opportunities as well as opportunities to build partnerships in South Africa and Japan.
