Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa to the B20 Summit, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg

Programme Director,
B20 Co-Chairs, Ms Nonkululeko Nyembezi and Mr Mxolisi Mgojo,
B20 South Africa Sherpa, Mr Cas Coovadia,
Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Mr Parks Tau,
Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Mr Ronald Lamola,
AU and EU Commissioners,
Members of the Local Business Advisory Council,
Members of the International Business Advocacy Caucus,
Ambassadors and High Commissioners,
B20 Sherpas,
Delegates,
Distinguished guests,
Friends,

It is a great honour to address this gathering of business people from across the globe who, by their presence here, have affirmed their commitment to a better Africa and a better world.

The G20 is meeting for the first time on African soil.

From every corner of the earth, people are returning to the Cradle of Humanity – to reflect on the state of our world and to chart a way forward to a more inclusive, more prosperous and more sustainable future.

This is a moment of great significance for Africa. It is also a moment of great opportunity.

It is an opportunity for Africa to assert its place in global affairs.

To affirm its position as a leader of economic growth and social progress in the years and decades before us.

Africa has some of the fastest growing economies in the world.  

It has the youngest population.

It is endowed with abundant natural resources: with the critical minerals that will build the economy of the future, with the fertile lands that can feed the world, and with the sun and the wind that will power a revolution in energy.

The African Continental Free Trade Area provides an unprecedented opportunity to harness these resources for the good of the people of the continent.

It promises a new area of trade and investment across the borders that have for so long held Africa back.

The African Continental Free Trade Area promises greater alignment of rules, regulations and standards.

It promises the seamless movement of goods and provision of services across a market of 1.4 billion people.

As the work done by the B20 has made clear, Africa has the potential to be the next frontier of global production, commerce and innovation.

We call on the global community to embrace Africa’s rise.

A more prosperous Africa is a more prosperous world.

An Africa that is at peace, that is stable, that is well governed and that has the means to meet the needs of its people, makes for a better world.

If the G20 is to realise its mission of fostering a more stable and prosperous world, then Africa’s growth and development must be a priority.

This calls for investment in infrastructure and industry. It calls for investment in people and technology. It calls for a massive increase in finance for climate action and a just transition for African economies.

Africa’s growth and development calls for more deliberate and more decisive action towards debt sustainability on the African continent.

Many African countries are unable to invest in their people, in infrastructure or in productive activity because of the cost of servicing their debt.

Removing this burden will unleash the potential of many African economies and the contribution that they can make to global growth.

This task has been bolstered in recent days by the release of the report of the Africa Expert Panel chaired by former South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.

The panel’s report highlights the high cost of capital faced by African countries, which are higher than in other regions with similar fundamentals.  

It recommends measures to mobilise significantly more concessional funding from multilateral development banks and African trade and finance institutions.

The report says we need to address biased risk perceptions of Africa by mandating greater transparency and accountability from credit rating agencies.

Taken together, the detailed recommendations of the expert panel could create the conditions for an investment boom in Africa.

Through its deliberations over the past year, the B20 has done much to reinforce the value of Africa’s rise, and it has outlined in detail the actions that need to be taken and the conditions that need to be met to realise Africa’s rise.

The B20 has done much to position business as a force for progress.

The B20 could not have been clearer: the global business community is prepared, willing and able to drive inclusive, sustainable and resilient growth.

The global business community has made itself a reliable partner, keen to work with governments, with multilateral bodies, with social partners and with communities in pursuit of the common good.

The B20 has made it clear that growth must be inclusive.

Those who have been marginalised – women, youth, persons with disabilities, the unemployed – must become active and beneficial participants in the global economy.

This is a matter of social and economic justice. But it is so much more.

It is an opportunity to harness the capabilities, talents and effort of billions of people to unleash the productive potential of humanity.

This calls for an approach that invests in people. It must start in the earliest years of life, establishing through quality foundational education a platform for learning that produces the skills that the economy of tomorrow will need.

It calls for accessible, quality health care, for affordable social security and focused poverty alleviation measures.

It calls for support for micro, small and medium enterprises, for entrepreneurs and for informal businesses.

Workers need to be skilled and re-skilled as methods of production change, as new industries emerge, as old industries decline and as technology advances at an ever-increasing rate.

The B20 has said that growth must be sustainable.

For the last two centuries, the extraordinary growth of the global economy has been achieved at the expense of the very resources on which our species relies for survival.

We now know that unless we change course, urgently and resolutely, the conditions of life on this planet will become intolerable.

The move to a low carbon economy cannot be delayed. Indeed, it must be accelerated.

As we undertake this transition, we must be sure not to further deepen inequality between and within countries.

We cannot disadvantage those countries that bear the least responsibility for climate change, yet are today most vulnerable to its effects.

We therefore need a massive increase in financial support for just and inclusive transitions in developing economies. We must share knowledge, expertise and technology.

At the same time, we must be wary of unilateral trade measures that seek to promote cleaner energy, but that further restrict fair market access for economies that are still developing.

We need to pursue fair, transparent and multilateral trade arrangements that do not punish countries for a climate crisis that they did not make.

From the experience of recent years, we are clear that growth must be resilient.

We have seen the huge disruptions to production and trade that can be caused by global pandemics, war and conflict, and geopolitical turbulence.

At such times, we appreciate the value of multilateral institutions and a rules-based world order.  

We appreciate the importance of diverse and resilient supply chains, regulatory coherence and predictable trade relations.

As we work to reinforce the resilience of our economies and the resilience of the global economy, we must direct greater effort towards reducing inequality.

A more equal world, in which political and economic power is more fairly distributed, in which all people have an equal voice and an equal stake, such a world is more stable and more resilient.

The G20 Global Inequality Report produced by Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and his committee of independent experts provides valuable guidance on the actions we can take towards such a world.

The recommendations contained in the committee’s report reinforce many of the priorities and actions that have been put forward at this B20 Summit and indeed throughout the year’s B20 engagements.

South Africa embarked on its G20 Presidency determined to advance the principles of Equality, Solidarity and Sustainability.

Over the course of the past year, most of the countries of the G20 have rallied in support of these principles, understanding that they are fundamental to our shared future.

We commend, applaud and thank the B20 for having imbued these principles with meaning and relevance.

I congratulate the B20 team and everyone from across the globe who participated in this worthy effort, and who are now determined to be part of the important work that lies ahead in building a better future for all.

I thank you.