By OBAKENG MAJE
28 January 2025- The Republic of South Africa president, Cyril Ramaphosa said the South African delegation that went to the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, was upbeat, confident that the country is overcoming the challenges that it is facing. Ramaphosa said democracy is thriving.
He further said their energy challenges are now a story of opportunity. Ramaphosa added that every year in January, thousands of leaders from government, business and other sectors gather in this town in the Alps to discuss the state of the global economy.
“This year, South Africa was invited to present its priorities for its G20 Presidency. In a plenary address and in a separate discussion with business leaders, we outlined our theme for the G20 this year – Solidary, Equality, Sustainable Development – and the focus areas through which we will give meaning to this theme.
“We made the point that it is in the interests of all countries, large and small, wealthy and poor, to reduce global inequality. That is why one of our priorities is ensuring debt sustainability for low-income countries,” he said.
Ramaphosa said by freeing up funds for debt relief in these countries, they will be in a better position to invest in infrastructure, industrial development, education, health care and other forms of development. He said another focus area, which both reduces poverty and promotes sustainability, is the mobilisation of finance for a just energy transition.
“Through this, developing economy countries will be able to pursue a low-carbon development path while protecting the interests of affected workers, businesses and communities.
“Related to this is another focus area: the mobilisation of special financing and insurance to enable vulnerable countries to rebuild after being struck by natural disasters,” said Ramaphosa.
He said the fourth focus area is to harness critical minerals, which are abundant in Africa and other countries of the Global South, to promote inclusive growth and development. Ramaphosa said they are proposing a G20 framework on ‘green’ industrialisation so that countries endowed with these resources must be the ones that benefit most.
“We stressed that our themes and priorities are underpinned by the principle of cooperation. Throughout history, human progress has been possible only through collaboration among peoples and countries.
“We therefore renewed our call for the resolution of global challenges through multilateral actions. We called for inclusive solutions that recognise that the world is more interconnected than ever before,” he said.
Ramaphosa said cooperation is vital, if they are to overcome the existential threat of climate change. He said carbon emissions into the atmosphere, global warming and the extreme weather events that it causes do not recognise national boundaries or political systems.
The Guardian 