WeeklySA_AdminImpede: One of the greatest impediments to growth and development in the world is the persistence of inequality.
By Monk Nkomo
One of the greatest impediments to growth , development and stability in the world is the persistence of inequality between countries at a time when countries should be harnessing the abundant resources they collectively possessed to overcome inequality, poverty, unemployment, especially youth unemployment and the abuse of women.
In a special address this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Klosters in Switzerland on South Africa’s readiness to host the G20 in Johannesburg later this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa also stressed the importance of unity within countries and said cooperation was the bedrock of human civilisation.
‘’ Without cooperation and collaboration between individuals, groups, people and nations, humanity cannot progress. Acting together, we should build an inclusive , just and equal world in which all may prosper, leaving no one and no country behind.’’
During the hosting of the G20 in November this year, Ramaphosa said South Africa would be focusing on solidarity, equality and sustainable development. He added that in the world we inhabited today, the pursuit of equality and the practice of solidarity could not be separated from sustainable development.
‘’ For nations to flourish, equality and prosperity must be available to everyone – regardless of gender, race, religious beliefs or economic status.
‘’ This is a moment when we should harness the abundant resources we collectively possess and the remarkable technologies that human ingenuity has produced to overcome poverty and inequality, unemployment, especially youth unemployment and the abuse of women once and for all.’’
Ramaphosa said as a leading forum for international economic cooperation, the G20 played an important role in shaping and strengthening global architecture and governance on major international economic issues.
For the first time in its history, the G20 was being hosted on the African continent following the admission of the African Union as a member of the G20. This was a moment of great significance for South Africa, the African continent and the world in that it was in Africa where humans developed the capacity and the impulse for cooperation.
Cooperation had been one of the key markers of human development touching on many aspects of life, from survival and social organisation to technological and cultural progress, which was what the G20 was established for. To foster cooperation to deal with the challenges the world faces.
Ramaphosa added that as world leaders confronted the challenges of the 21st century – from climate change to pandemics, from poverty to terrorism, from migration to artificial intelligence – they were again called upon to harness that most powerful, and that most enduring, of human attributes: mutually beneficial cooperation and collaboration.
‘’This is a time of rising geopolitical tensions, unilateralism, nationalism, protectionism, isolationism, rising debt levels affecting poor countries in the world and a declining sense of common purpose. Yet, this is a moment when we should be standing together as a global community to resolve the problems that confront humanity by ending the wars and conflicts that are causing such hardship and misery to many people around the world’’.
World leaders were called upon by the exigency of the moment to act together with greater urgency to halt the destruction of our planet.
South Africa would seek to get the G20 to focus more on how they could enhance solidarity through collective efforts to ensure that in the pursuit of progress for all, no person and no country was left behind.
‘’The rights and freedoms of one people cannot be separated from the rights and freedoms of all peoples. This is the foundation on which solidarity is built’’, said Ramaphosa.
The pursuit of the UN Sustainable Development Goal on reducing inequality, he added, was as much of an economic imperative as it was a social imperative.
As the G20, they needed deliberate and coordinated efforts to focus on inclusive growth based on responsive trade and investment to grow the incomes of poor nations and the poorest in society and to ensure equal access to opportunities especially for women and young people.
In addition to huge gaps in economic capabilities and levels of human development, countries of the Global South faced a lack of predictable financing for development and climate change, high levels of debt and vulnerability to pandemics.
Debt sustainability for low-income countries was one of the four priorities of South Africa’s G20 Presidency.The pursuit of equality and the practice of solidarity could not be separated from sustainable development.
‘’We need to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It is therefore in the interests of all countries to act with greater urgency to reduce global emissions – and for industrialised countries to support the climate actions that poorer countries must necessarily take in line with and support of decisions of UN climate change summits’’.
Another of South Africa’s priorities for its G20 Presidency was therefore to mobilise finance for a just energy transition. The country would seek agreement on increasing the quality and quantity of climate finance flows to developing economies as agreed at various UN climate change summits.
‘’We will continue to call on global financial institutions on the redirection of Special Drawing Rights, which are left unused. It is simply not fair that over 60 percent of Special Drawing Rights go to a handful of wealthy countries. These drawing rights should be redirected to enable countries in Africa and other parts of the Global South to realise their developmental aspirations – to enable them to invest in infrastructure, in industrial development, in education and training, and in health care’’.
Ramaphosa added that they needed to leverage private capital and use innovative forms of finance and taxation to raise additional resources for sustainable development. Global finance institutions should derisk and support more financing for emerging and developing economies. They needed to support country initiatives aimed at addressing climate change, such as the Just Energy Transition Partnership that South Africa has entered into with a number of countries of the Global North.
‘’As we accelerate the transition to low-carbon economies in a manner that is just and inclusive, we must recognise the damage that climate change has already wrought. And will continue to wreak. In light of this, South Africa has therefore made the strengthening of disaster resilience as another of the priorities of its G20 Presidency’’.
The increasing rate of climate-induced natural disasters was affecting countries that could at least afford the costs of recovery and rebuilding. In order to address this, special financing and insurance mechanisms must be made available to scale up funding for post-disaster reconstruction.
Since the dawn of the industrial age, the benefits to humanity of economic growth had been achieved at the cost of environmental destruction.
‘’If we are to survive and thrive as humanity, we must change this. We must pursue development pathways that reconcile growth with urgent climate action.’’
Another of South Africa’s priorities for its G20 Presidency was to harness critical minerals for inclusive growth and development.
Ramaphosa said there was also a need to promote beneficiation and local value addition of resources at source resulting in an additive rather than an extractive relationship. As minerals extraction accelerates to match the needs of the energy transition, the countries and local communities endowed with these resources must be the ones to benefit the most.
Through its G20 Presidency, South Africa was well-positioned to advance global cooperation and building partnerships for growth and development. As the leaders of the G20 prepared to come to Africa, Ramaphosa made a plea that they all must harness the essential capabilities that would make them take action to build a better and fairer world.
‘’ We intend that the G20 in Johannesburg this year should be a forum where cooperation and collaboration amongst the leading economies in the world, will be taken to a higher level.’’
