Nardos Bekele-Thomas “SA’s G20 presidency : a catalyst for Africa’s development”

By Nardos Bekele-Thomas

The world is at a critical juncture, facing unprecedented global uncertainty, flux, and polycrises. Climate change, inflation, escalating debt vulnerabilities, unwinding multilateralism, protectionism, and rising global tensions are converging to threaten global stability.

Amid this chaos, SA’s G20 presidency offers an opportunity to shape the global agenda and secure commitments from powerful economies to address common critical issues with differentiated impacts, which unfairly affect developing nations.

Africa is particularly vulnerable to these global shocks

Africa is particularly vulnerable to these global shocks. Persistent inflation, unsustainable debt, and currency depreciations are compounded by conflicts such as the ones in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan, raising concern about regional instability. More than a third of African countries are in debt distress or at high risk thereof, with continental inflation rates averaging 13.9% last year.

Climate change remains an existential threat, with Africa bearing the brunt of extreme weather events despite its limited contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. The imposition of carbon taxes will amplify debt vulnerabilities, while the absence of a uniform price of carbon and low returns on carbon offset projects in developing countries undermine efforts to transition to sustainable energy sources.

Unfulfilled promises and empty COP pledges undermine commitment to global solidarity. The option of short-term gains threatens human existence and defeats the principles of a purposeful life: solidarity for a sustainable future.

Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability

To tackle these challenges, SA’s G20 presidency — the first ever African presidency of the G20 — has adopted the theme “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability”. The presidency’s priorities are solidarity, equality and sustainable development with the goals for review as follows: the group’s processes, addressing financing for development and tackling barriers to growth in developing countries, including those in Africa.

These priorities are already articulated in Africa’s programme for its development, Agenda 2063, and are at the core of the Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan of the agenda adopted by African heads of states at their annual summit in 2024. This reaffirms the view that SA’s G20 presidency is anchored in a truly African agenda.

We are now three months into SA’s presidency and the momentum is taking shape, with various meetings gathering global leaders already convened.

AUDA-NEPAD’s role :  to catalyse regional co-operation and champion innovation-driven transformations across the four priorities that SA has defined for it and Africa’s presidency of the G20

What is coming out clearly from these discussions is that African institutions must play a crucial role in translating policy statements into concrete actions that will deliver tangible benefits for Africans. In this regard, the role of the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD), the AU’s premier development agency, becomes critically important with its focus on implementation, co-ordination of the development landscape and mobilising partnerships for development.

The work that the agency leads across the continent holds great potential to catalyse regional co-operation and champion innovation-driven transformations across the four priorities that SA has defined for it and Africa’s presidency of the G20.

For example, on energy transition, our agency acknowledges that Africa’s development requires a commitment to clean energy. Among the many areas of focus within this priority, AUDA-NEPAD is using its strategic position as the continent’s technical interface with global partners to support the transfer of technology from developed nations and enable the continent’s transition to sustainable energy sources.

AUDA-NEPAD’s collaboration with African Development Bank to establish Mission 300, which focuses on mobilising financing for critical clean energy projects across the continent and providing electricity to 300 million people by 2030, is a case in point. It’s aimed at increasing Africa’s electricity production capacity and the development of clean energy assets.

This could assist in diversifying the energy sector, attracting investment, and ensuring that growth is environmentally responsible.

Key projects under the Continental Master Plan and Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa focus on advancing regional network infrastructure integration and clean energy development.

As part of driving continental infrastructure development which is a catalyst for regional integration,  the Presidential Infrastructure Champions Initiative (PICI), chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa, has as its main objective to accelerate the implementation of major transboundary infrastructure projects through heads of state and government.

AUDA-NEPAD’s partnership with the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization is accelerating Africa’s transition to renewable energy and reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Among other objectives, we are working together to mobilise financing for green energy projects, conduct joint studies on critical energy infrastructure and strengthen capacity of our regional power pools for better energy planning.

We are equally engaged through our programmes and various partnerships across South Africa’s G20 presidency priorities.

Scaling up finance

To have an impact across all four priorities, we have to scale up financing. The establishment of the AU Development Fund, a strategic mechanism to mobilise sustainable financing by leveraging both public and private sector investments, demonstrates a clear commitment to this. Team Africa launched to co-ordinate and integrate the efforts of the regional economic communities and AU institutions, is aligning more than 300 high-impact regional initiatives valued at more than $500bn.

The success of SA’s G20 presidency hinges on African countries’ ability to translate commitments into concrete actions. AUDA-NEPAD is uniquely positioned to lead this implementation phase, providing technical knowledge-based and evidence-driven adviser services, co-ordinating development co-operation efforts, and fostering regional collaboration.

The need for African ownership

Ultimately, the sustainability of these efforts depends on African ownership and leadership of its own development agenda, guiding it towards its desired destination. Africa’s destiny cannot continuously shift with the changing geopolitical positioning — shaped solely to respond to outside interests. The future of African development rests on the strength and effectiveness of its institutions such as AUDA-NEPAD, the African Continental Free Trade Area, the African Peer Review Mechanism, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and African Medicines Agency, which must navigate the complexities of global governance, polycrises, and paradigm shifts to forge a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient future for the continent.

Africa is committed to transforming its immense natural and human resources into wealth, managing the process of transformation towards sustainable prosperity, and stopping poverty. G20 collaboration and global solidarity have become more imperative than before.

* Nardos Bekele-Thomas is CEO of AUDA-NEPAD