Despite an increasingly fragmented world — both economically through trade barriers and politically through sanctions — there is a growing need for international cooperation and coalitions to drive investment and global economic growth.
“It is absolutely imperative that we strengthen global cooperation, and the multilateral trading system, reform development finance, address debt challenges, and scale up climate financing to help vulnerable countries accelerate towards a path of sustainable and inclusive growth,” said Li Junhua, U.N. under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs, in January.
In December, South Africa became the first African country to lead the Group of 20 (G20), a coalition of the biggest developed and developing economies. Notably, South Africa is the fourth emerging market to assume the G20 presidency, which rotates annually. Its predecessors are Indonesia (2022), India (2023), and Brazil (2024).
“South Africa’s presidency of the G20 in 2025 is a pivotal moment for the nation and the continent,” said a November article by Africa Renewal, a UN publication. With the African Union’s (AU) inclusion in the G20 in 2023, South Africa has “a historic opportunity to reshape global governance in a way that reflects the aspirations and challenges of the Global South,” it said.
However, it will be challenging for South Africa to introduce an agenda that caters to all interests. “Achieving consensus will be a diplomatic challenge for the first African country to hold the rotating G20 leadership position,” David McNair, executive director for global policy at ONE, an advocacy, said in a December article published on Africa Policy Research Institute, a think tank.
The Big 20
In 1999, following the Asian financial crisis, the G20 was created as an informal forum for finance ministers and central bank governors of the most important industrialized and developing economies “to discuss international economic and financial stability,” according to the G20 website.
The coalition includes 19 of the world’s largest economies and two regional blocs: the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU). Together, G20 members represent 85% of global GDP, 75% of international trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population.
Every year, the Group’s members meet for a two-day summit, trying “to solve the world’s pressing economic problems” by getting members to reach an agreement, said the World Economic Forum in November.
A November article in Africa Policy Research Private Institute by Magalie Masamba, a law and policy adviser, stressed the G20’s presiding country has the upper hand in setting the agenda, steering discussions, and pushing forward reforms that reflect global priorities.
Leadership benefits
Similar to the past two presidencies of Brazil and India, South Africa’s leadership “again presents an opportunity for greater representation of developing countries in international financial decision-making processes,” said Masamba.
Brazil and India “have sought to highlight the needs of emerging markets and developing economies through their agenda-setting role at the G20,” said a February article by the Atlantic Council, an American think tank. Their agendas focused on food insecurity in developing economies.
This priority is crucial as 783 million people worldwide “faced chronic hunger in 2023, and most are in emerging markets and developing economies,” according to the UN World Food Programme.
Brazil’s term, which ended December 2024, prioritized several of the country’s key concerns, including social inclusion and combating hunger and poverty; sustainable development; energy transitions; and climate action.
The G20 Rio de Janeiro leaders’ declaration stressed G20 nations “share a collective responsibility for the effective stewardship of the global economy, fostering the conditions for sustainable, resilient and inclusive global growth.”
South Africa has a massive opportunity to capitalize on its G20 leadership role in 2025 to achieve sustainable economic gains for itself and the whole continent. “South Africa’s presidency is poised to have significant implications for the broader African region, particularly within the Southern African Development Community (SADC),” said Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation in South Africa.
He added that “The nation’s strategic position within the G20 will enable it to lobby for policy gains that benefit South Africa, the SADC, and the entire continent.”
South Africa already has strong ties with G20 members, which it can further bolster in 2025 to advance its agenda. “Trade with G20 nations already represents a significant portion of South Africa’s economic engagement,” said Sonja Boshoff, a Delegate to the South African National Council of Province in December. In 2023, agricultural trade between South Africa and the G20 market amounted to 55% of the former’s total agricultural exports.
Boshoff noted that as a leader in producing minerals essential for eco-friendly (green) technologies, South Africa “should attract investment from G20 nations to modernize its mining sector.” According to data aggregator Statista, in 2023, the domestic mining industry contributed approximately $11 billion to the country’s GDP.
African debt
South Africa also has the opportunity to address issues across the continent. Danny Bradlow, senior research fellow at the Centre for Advancement of Scholarship at the University of Pretoria, highlighted in November that South Africa’s presidency of the G20 “provides an opportunity to address some longstanding bottlenecks facing regional integration in Africa.”
Addressing Africa’s debt would be a crucial strategy for South Africa, Bradlow said. Notably, African countries’ total external debt exceeded $1.1 trillion by the end of 2023. According to the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), African countries had to pay $163 billion to service those debts in 2024, compared to $61 billion in 2010.
Africa’s debt has surged 183% since 2010, a rate nearly four times faster than the continent’s GDP growth in dollar terms, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Masamba said Africa’s debt crisis threatens economic stability, growth and development. She noted that in 2023, over half of the low-income countries in Africa were experiencing debt distress or were at high risk of encountering it.
That signals the urgent need for comprehensive inclusive solutions the G20 could introduce to help ease debt pressures on African nations. An example could be the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), established by the G20 under Saudi Arabia’s leadership in May 2020, to help countries concentrate their resources on fighting the pandemic.
Masamba said South Africa will get to address Africa’s sovereign debt crisis within the G20 agenda in a way that “promotes long-term economic stability and equity while pushing for innovative financing solutions.”
African climate
Climate change is another topic South Africa and the AU could focus on in 2025 with the G20. According to the AfDB in October, “Although all continents are affected by climate change, the puzzling paradox is that Africa is disproportionately impacted despite being the least polluting region of the world, emitting just about 4% of total global greenhouse gas emissions.”
Masamba said climate financing requirements “are projected to increase from $8.1 trillion to $9 trillion each year by 2030,” stressing the need for financing solutions that consider debt sustainability and climate resilience.
Echoing the same concern, a press release by the AU in June said, “Africa only receives 3% of total climate finance.” Thus, there is an urgent need to improve and streamline climate finance instruments and mechanisms to be more responsive and adaptable to better support African nations in their green growth ambitions, it added.
In 2017, the G20 showed interest in bolstering partnerships with Africa during Germany’s presidency. At the time, the Compact With Africa (CwA) initiative was established to increase private investment through substantial improvements to macro, business, and financing frameworks, according to the World Bank.
The CwA brings together 13 African nations with the aim of improving economic conditions in member countries.
Consequently, Boshoff showed that leveraging G20 mechanisms such as the CwA “can secure financing for infrastructure projects essential for trade, such as modernizing ports, railways, and logistics networks.”
Welcome, AU
Including the AU in the G20 in 2023 was a significant step, given that it represents 55 states with a combined GDP of $3 trillion and a population of 1.4 billion.
Accordingly, it has a significant opportunity to shape the summit’s agenda. Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, chief executive of the South African Institute of International Affairs, said in an interview with CNBC, “South Africa’s hosting of the G20 in 2025 amplifies the AU’s influence in prioritizing Africa’s needs, including poverty reduction and sustainable development.
The collaboration between South Africa and the AU should magnify the African continent’s participation in discussions and agenda-setting. “Together, they can craft a G20 agenda focused on addressing the most pressing challenges facing Africa,” said an August policy brief released by the Policy Center for the New South.
“Africa’s G20 partners can and should be more innovative in their funding approaches to match Africa’s infrastructure finance needs,” reported African Business in December.
U.S. next in line
With the United States assuming the presidency in 2026 under a protectionist-leaning administration, “it will be important for South Africa to ensure that it consolidates positions of the Global South and hands over to the U.S. a solid legacy on issues to avoid the US and Global North diluting or undermining the whole agenda of the Global South,” said David Monyae, director of the Centre for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg, in November.
In November, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told Deutsche Welle, a German media platform, that developing countries “cannot expect too much from the United States, especially under the next Donald Trump administration. The same applies to Europe.”
Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, told the media in December that under Trump, who is likely to adopt an America First policy at the expense of international cooperation, the G20 should have sufficient “shock absorbers” to function effectively.
Ramaphosa stressed that he would elevate the impact of climate change on developing countries during South Africa’s G20 presidency. That is primarily because “Trump has shown his disdain for international cooperation on climate issues.”
Egypt-G20 relations
In 2025, South Africa’s presidency of the G20 should bolster Egypt’s efforts to strengthen favorable international relations. In November, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi underscored the significance of “joint work to put African development priorities on the international agenda and to achieve optimal benefits from the new African Union membership in the G20.”
Egypt already has good relations with most G20 members. Trade volume between Egypt and G20 countries surged to $61 billion in the first nine months of 2024, compared to $55.6 billion during the same period in 2023, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
Italy is the largest importer of Egyptian goods, amounting to $2.9 billion in 2023, followed by Saudi Arabia ($2.4 billion), Turkey ($2.3 billion), the United States ($1.7 billion) and United Kingdom ($1.2 billion).
In addition, foreign investment in Egypt by G20 surged to $12 billion in FY 2022/2023, up from $8.7 billion in FY 2021/2022. The CAPMAS report also indicated that Egyptian investment in G20 countries reached $8.2 billion, compared to $7.9 billion the previous year.
Ultimately, Egypt’s priority with the G20 in 2025 is to tackle the “challenges faced by developing countries in their endeavors to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly amidst the ongoing international political and economic fluctuations,” Sisi said in November. “[It is of] critical importance to [achieve] solidarity and enhance cooperation to address these challenges.”