South Africa has held the first Sherpa meeting of its G20 Presidency in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Monday and Tuesday this week.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, following the conclusion of the two-day meeting, South Africa’s Sherpa for the G20 and Director-General in the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), Zane Dangor, described the gathering as a success.
Dangor highlighted that the meeting was centred on various subjects, including “significant discussions” for a review of the “G20 at 20”.
“[There was] support for the fact that this is timely, that we need to assess what the purpose of the G20 is, what is the mandate of the G20 and what are the agreements that have been made on the various tracks over the last 20 years, what has been achieved and what has enabled that achievement.
“We must also look at what has not been achieved and what are the disabling factors. A methodology for that review will be developed so that we ask the right questions, get the right answers, and do the proper analysis, so that by the time we get to the end of our Presidency in November, we can give them clear recommendations on how to improve the G20,” he said.
The South African Sherpa further explained that “G20 members seek to remain informal so that levels of flexibility are maintained and also to make sure that it doesn’t seek to compete with formal multilateral institutions like the [United Nations] and the [African Union] and others where you have formal secretariats”.
Other subject matters that were given much attention include mobilising finance for a Just Energy Transition, as well as attaining food security at a regional and global level.
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