Ramaphosa Outlines South Africa’s Priorities During its G20 Presidency at Davos 2025
South Africa Chairs G20 in 2025
Invited to deliver a ‘special address’ at the World Economic Forum 2025 (#WEF2025) in Davos on 21 January 2025, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa took the opportunity to outline the top priorities during his chairmanship of the G20. As per the roadmap, South Africa is organizing more than 130 meetings, culminating in the G20 Summit 2025 (#G20Summit2025) scheduled to take place in Johannesburg towards the end of the year.
“South Africa has a tradition of inclusive dialogue and common action … The seeds of human progress were sown in Africa. In Africa, the earliest forms of human cooperation were forged and developed. As the leaders of G20 return to Africa, we make a call that we all harness these essential capabilities to build a better and fairer world. The G20 in Johannesburg should really be a forum where cooperation and collaboration among the leading economies of the world will be taken to a higher level. Together, we should build an inclusive, just and equal in which all may prosper, leaving no country and no one behind.”
South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa
Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability
2025 will mark the first time that the #G20 Summit will be held on the African continent, following the formal admission of the African Union (AU) into the G20 under India’s presidency during 2023. South Africa is honored to follow Brazil in 2024 and to precede the USA in 2026 under the new Trump administration.
South Africa strongly believes that certain global challenges, such as Climate Change, Illegal Migration, and Pandemic Preparedness, can only be tackled by pooling resources and coordinating efforts globally and equitably. That is why the theme of G20 Summit 2025 centers around “Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability.”
International Finance Architecture
As a member of the Global South, South Africa sees many developing nations being pulled down by heavy debt burdens. Due to the bias in the sovereign credit rating — which may not be a true reflection of the socio-economic situation — many developing countries can only get access to capital at a high cost.
On one side, it is imperative for credit agencies to undertake a more balanced and fairer assessment and, on the other side, Africa must take the initiative to control the narrative to counterbalance the negativity.
Furthermore, South Africa calls for a higher proportion of the IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to be allocated to Africa and the #GlobaSouth, where the financing gap is huge. Currently, 60% of #SDR goes to developed countries, which simply does not make sense.
Climate Change
Africa is home to some of the countries which are most vulnerable to the negative impact of #ClimateChange. South Africa will thus make Climate Action as one of its top priorities to enhance Climate Adaptation and Climate Resilience. In addition, South Africa will continue to support the Just Energy Transition (#JET).
G20 must provide support, both financial and technical, to the Global South to come out of climatic disasters and prepare them to be more resilient in the future. South Africa believes that innovation could play a key role in climate adaptation and mitigation measures.
Critical Minerals
South Africa is of the belief that Local Value Addition (#LVA) of Critical Minerals at source is the right way to go. In order for more benefits to stay on the continent, South Africa will leverage the G20 platform to promote Green Industrialization, as Africa is the next frontier for global manufacturing.
In other words, the mining sector in Africa must evolve from being extractive to being additive. Another way to frame the issue is to say that Africa must endeavor to climb up the Global Value Chain (#GVC).
#CriticalMinerals are key to the #EnergyTransition and the #Decarbonization drive. As a country with a long history in auto making, South Africa will foster local beneficiation and champion the reinforcement of Regional Value Chains (#RVC) around Electric Vehicles (#EV) and Energy Storage Systems (#ESS).

AI and Digital Innovation
AI and digital innovation in general will make a profound impact on our lives, even now, and more so, in the future. Africa must not be left behind in this technological revolution, as it was left behind during the industrial revolution.
It is thus crucial for Africa to keep abreast of technological advances which may boost productivity, improve levels of services through enhanced natural man-machine interface.
On that note, Africa welcomes the setting up of #AI data centers across the continent, which are powered by the abundant sources of renewable and green energy. At the same time, the youth dividend enjoyed by Africa provides a large pool of eager and enthusiastic adopters of cutting-edge technologies.
Investment Climate
Before ending, WEF Founder Klaus Schwab put forward the billion-dollar question as to why investors should come to South Africa. To that question, President Ramaphosa underlined some of his government’s achievements and efforts in improving the business climate in South Africa.
Firstly, the rolling blackouts are now getting under control. Secondly, he is cracking down on corruption in order to improve governance and enhance the index for Ease of Doing Business (#EDB) in South Africa. Last but not least, South Africa is one of the most advanced and industrialized economies on the continent and is thus the preferred launchpad of many enterprises coming to Africa.