Africa hosts G20 for the first time. South Africa, which took over the G20 presidency in December, welcomes world leaders to the group’s summit in November. South Africa’s leadership offers a real opportunity to advance the interests of poorer countries. But with geopolitical tensions rising and a new US president in the White House, that is especially challenging.
Under the slogan “Solidarity, equality and sustainability,” Pretoria’s priorities are to ensure greater fairness in global governance and give greater prominence to Africa’s development agenda.
The event will be the culmination of a series of G20 summits hosted by the IBSA countries of India, Brazil and South Africa. All three democracies have positioned their G20 presidencies as a way to bring leadership to the Global South and reform international governance to be more inclusive.
Yet South Africa’s position in international forums has often been at odds with US and Western interests. Western partners seeking to demonstrate that they offer real choices to the Global South, where they expect China, Russia, or the Gulf states to play a larger role, should focus on delivering on promises to reduce poverty rather than fomenting geopolitical divisions. In November, Trump threatened 100 percent tariffs on the BRICS countries in response to repeated calls for an alternative reserve currency to the dollar. South Africa itself favors de-dollarization through trade in national currencies rather than creating a new alternative to the dollar. While all G20 members live in a more complex multipolar world, South Africa’s focus on development offers Western governments an opportunity to emphasize the value of engagement. Efforts on pro-poor initiatives that benefit ordinary people could counter accusations of economic neo-imperialism.
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