On 25 July 2024, ACCORD attended the G20 Policy Seminar on South Africa’s Presidency of the G20 in 2025. This seminar was co-hosted by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) of South Africa and the University of Pretoria’s Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship (CAS) at DIRCO in Pretoria, South Africa. The seminar brought together South African government officials, academics, members of the diplomatic community and civil society actors to discuss how to shape a more progressive, inclusive and effective South African G20 Presidency. The discussion was timely and important, especially in the context of an increasingly fragmented international system and unequal global financial architecture.
Despite these challenges, the meeting also reflected on the utility of the G20 space as a forum that can be strategically used to build consensus, discuss the reform of the global financial architecture and have frank discussions on financing for development. Discussions, as pointed out by participants, are crucial given the interdependence of state economies. For ‘emerging economies’ like South Africa who might not be able to match the material capabilities and influence of fellow G20 states, the G20 forum provides an opportunity to build alliances around their agendas. Relatedly, the inclusion of the African Union into the G20 coupled with the South African presidency provided an opportunity to further the interests and priorities of the continent to focus on debt relief, climate financing and reform of international financial institutions (IFIs). Other opportunities for South Africa which were discussed included harnessing the G20 space for crisis management, networking and demonstrating its convening power, given the fact that there are sometimes up to 200 meetings in a single presidency.
Many of these issues raised are relevant to how we imagine financing for development in peacebuilding processes and post-conflict reconstruction and development. ACCORD will continue to remain engaged on issues of global governance and multilateral cooperation for peace and development.
