Embracing the spirit and goals of the G20 summit

THE G20 Summit scheduled to take place on 22nd-23rd November in Johannesburg is the high point of the yearlong presidency of South Africa of the group of nineteen countries and two continental unions, namely the African Union and European Union.

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SOUTH Africa is preparing to become the first African nation to assume the G20 presidency on November 22-23. | Supplied

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South Africa's presidency has been special, as it is the last in the series of the 4 countries of the Global South that have held the presidency in succession.

This has been a unique opportunity. Indonesia, India, Brazil, and South Africa have used their presidencies to bring the issues of the Global South to the forefront of the G20 agenda, thus making a big contribution in shaping the future direction of the grouping.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, at the launch of the South African G20 Presidency, rightly said: “We will use this moment to bring the development priorities of the African Continent and the Global South more firmly onto the agenda of the G20.

“In this regard, we will build on the work of the most recent G20 presidencies of Brazil in 2024, India in 2023, and Indonesia in 2022. We will use our G20 Presidency to secure urgent progress on shared goals through a number of priority actions”

India, during its presidency of the G20 in 2023, worked with other countries of the Global South, especially the countries that are not members of the G20, to get their views on issues that affected these nations.