Your Excellencies, Ministers of Foreign Affairs,
My co-host, Mr Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein,
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour and privilege to welcome you all here this evening.

South Africa’s Leadership at the G20

South Africa and the International Peace Institute have a long-standing partnership, a relationship built on mutual respect, shared goals, and a collective vision.

This collaboration naturally led us to co-host this year’s annual forum on Africa and the Global Order, which focuses specifically on the G20.

Excellencies,

Nearly nine months ago, South Africa took over the Presidency of the G20 amidst a volatile global climate.

We responded that the world needs more Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability, and these three ideals became the core theme for our G20 Presidency.

At the heart of this theme, the African philosophy of Ubuntu resonates with the Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) slogan: Leaving No One Behind.

We believe you cannot separate the pursuit of equality from the practice of solidarity, nor can you separate either from the cause of sustainable development.

At the very beginning of our G20 Presidency, we set out ambitious and targeted priorities.

We focused on promoting inclusive economic growth, fostering equitable development, and building a more resilient world for the African Continent, the Global South, and beyond.

For 2025, our agenda promotes coordinated and deliberate action to foster an environment for sustainable development and inclusive global growth.

South Africa’s G20 priorities strategically align with the original G20 mandate to promote strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth.

Our four overarching priorities address challenges that undermine our continent’s ability to grow, diminish our capacity to develop, and stifle our aspirations for a prosperous future.

These priorities focus on:

• strengthening disaster resilience and response.
• taking action to ensure debt sustainability for low-income countries.
• mobilising predictable and increased finance for a just energy transition.
• harnessing critical minerals for inclusive growth and sustainable development.

South Africa’s G20 Presidency aims to galvanise collective action with a significant impact under these priorities. To achieve this, the G20 must forge consensus, build a global economy, and create a world that is more resilient, more sustainable, and more equal.

A Call for Collective Action

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

South Africa’s G20 Presidency, with its priorities and high-level deliverables, gives the G20 an opportunity to stay true to its mandate, to demonstrate its leadership, and to fulfil its commitment as the premier multilateral forum for international economic cooperation.

We have a shared responsibility to provide stewardship, to raise ambition, and to secure tangible outcomes for future generations.

We should not normalise, exploitation, inequality and poverty and we must undo the systemic flaws in our society that allow these lived realities to persist.

Just a few months ago, at the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), we adopted the Seville Commitment.

The commitment aims to boost investment, address the debt crisis, and give developing countries a stronger voice in the international financial architecture.

During November, the global community will meet and deliberate on consensus outcomes for a host of global challenges at Climate Change COP30 and the 2nd World Summit for Social Development.

These major global forums, along with South Africa’s upcoming G20 Summit, present a clear opportunity for us, the G20, to show leadership in our actions, to be steadfast in our resolve, and to address the persistent challenges that stifle inclusive economic growth and sustainable development.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I look forward to our frank discussions this evening before tomorrow’s second G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at the UN.

As the G20, let us share our perspectives, address our challenges, and advance our shared goals.

I thank you.

ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION

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