South Africa's chairmanship of G20 officially starts

South Africa has taken over the baton of the G20 presidency from Brazil. The event is a milestone not only in the history of South Africa, but of Africa as a whole. It will be the first time the continent will host a summit of this global association. This is reported by Pretoria News, a partner of TV BRICS.

Earlier, representatives of South Africa, speaking at various international platforms, called the priorities and interests of the country, which Pretoria intends to promote in the G20.

On the margins of the G20 summit held in Rio de Janeiro on 18-19 November, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa formulated the motto of the South African presidency as "Fostering solidarity, equality, and sustainable development". The president named the achievement of the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals as a key area for the G20 to work together.

Pretoria will focus on combating social and economic inequality, global food security, artificial intelligence and innovation to support sustainable economic growth in 2025, as reported by the official website of the President of South Africa.

Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa intends to use the G20 as a platform to advance the interests of the global South.

"South Africa’s Presidency will be the first time an African country has presided over the G20. 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"

Cyril Ramaphosa South African President

Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson for the South African President, as quoted by Pretoria News, emphasised that the strategic direction of the South African presidency will be to work towards a more balanced, representative and flexible international order, consistent with the principles and spirit of the United Nations.

A practical tool for changing the global governance system could be reform of the G20 itself, according to Masotsha Mnguni, South Africa's country's diplomat in charge of G20 coordination.

He stated that South Africa intends to put on the agenda of the association the issue of adopting a new formula for electing the group's chairperson. Masotsha Mnguni also noted, that there is a need for a balance to be struck in the G20 between developed and developing countries representing the global South.

In an exclusive commentary to TV BRICS, Daria Zelenova, Head of the Centre for the Study of African BRICS Strategy at the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that South Africa's policy within the G20 will be coordinated with the position of the African Union, whose involvement in the work of the association will allow the continent's countries to change the structure of global governance.

"South Africa's chairmanship in the G20 will be largely related to helping the development of the African continent and will be paired with the agenda promoted by the African Union. It is likely that South Africa will be interested in pushing the African Union's Agenda 2063. Among South Africa's priorities in the G20 will be the digital economy and new technologies in agriculture," the expert said.

According to her, South Africa will continue to develop the task forces to combat poverty and climate change problems, created during the presidency of Brazil.

The G20 is an international platform for discussing and finding solutions to global socio-economic problems. The group includes states with the world's largest economies, representing all continents. G20 summits have been held regularly since 2008. The chair country of the association changes every year on a rotational basis.