South Africa has intensified its diplomatic advocacy for enhanced strategic alignment between the Group of 20 (G20) and the African Union (AU), with Deputy President Paul Mashatile calling for a renewed depth of collaboration between the two multilateral entities. Speaking at the opening of the T20 Africa high-level dialogue in Pretoria on 29 April 2025, Mashatile underscored the centrality of African priorities within South Africa’s G20 presidency and reaffirmed Pretoria’s commitment to ensuring the continent’s voice is meaningfully integrated into global economic governance.
The T20 (Think 20) Africa forum, a vital intellectual arm of the G20, convenes leading think tanks and policy research institutions to shape evidence-based policy proposals for G20 leaders. This year’s forum is hosted under the auspices of the South African Institute of International Affairs, the Institute for Global Dialogue, the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation, and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD). The two-day event, culminating on 30 April, serves as a platform to deliberate on actionable synergies between African and global policy frameworks.
South Africa formally assumed the rotating G20 presidency on 1 December 2024, marking a historic moment as it steers the group’s agenda through to November 2025. The nation’s leadership of the bloc is significant given its dual membership in both the G20 and the AU, placing it in a strategic position to bridge global and continental priorities. This positioning has been vigorously employed by South African officials to champion African interests in global forums.
In his keynote address, Deputy President Mashatile stated that South Africa has worked in tandem with the AU to weave Africa’s strategic development goals into the fabric of the G20’s thematic workstreams. “South Africa has worked closely with the AU to ensure its six G20 priorities, ranging from inclusive development and fair finance to climate action and global governance reforms, are integrated into our presidency’s workstreams,” Mashatile said. These six priorities, articulated through three G20 high-level task forces, aim to catalyse inclusive economic growth, promote industrialisation, foster decent employment, and reduce inequality.
Mashatile highlighted that such integration is not merely rhetorical but operational, noting that the G20 task forces are actively engaging with African development imperatives. South Africa’s presidency, he stressed, is intentionally continental in scope: “Our presidency is for the benefit of the entire African continent,” he remarked.
One of the major focal points of this continental agenda is technological innovation, with particular emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI) as a driver of sustainable development and food security. Mashatile emphasised that leveraging AI within Africa’s agricultural ecosystems—through innovation in value chains, precision farming, and rural industrialisation—could unlock food sovereignty and empower marginalised communities. According to AUDA-NEPAD, such investments can significantly bolster smallholder productivity, support climate adaptation, and enhance market access.
The Deputy President further advanced the argument for deeper institutional convergence in peace-building, citing the AU’s “Silencing the Guns” initiative as a critical framework for durable peace across the continent. He called upon the G20 to support sustainable funding mechanisms for AU peace operations, particularly those aligning with AU frameworks and mandates. “We call for deeper G20-AU collaboration in peace-building on the continent, including sustainable funding for AU peace operations and mechanisms aligned to the Silencing the Guns initiative,” he urged.
South Africa’s position finds resonance with a growing consensus that Africa’s developmental and security challenges require not only bilateral aid but robust multilateral cooperation anchored in equity and mutual benefit. Within the broader context of reforming global governance institutions, the call for closer G20-AU cooperation echoes African demands for permanent representation in decision-making bodies such as the United Nations Security Council and expanded voting rights within international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.
Moreover, South Africa’s presidency occurs at a time when the G20 itself is undergoing introspection about its role in addressing global inequality, climate vulnerability, and geopolitical fragmentation. With mounting global crises—ranging from debt distress in the Global South to escalating climate impacts—the South African-led G20 offers a critical opportunity to recalibrate multilateralism through an African lens.
The T20 Africa dialogue has thus emerged as more than a consultative space; it is a platform for policy co-creation that seeks to infuse G20 deliberations with grounded insights from the African continent. Institutions participating in the dialogue have presented evidence-based recommendations for embedding Africa’s Agenda 2063 within the G20’s policy design, including proposals to facilitate technology transfer, climate financing, youth employment, and debt restructuring.
In closing his remarks, Mashatile reaffirmed South Africa’s diplomatic resolve to ensure that Africa does not remain on the periphery of global decision-making processes. “Our vision is to build a G20 that is not only representative but responsive to the developmental needs of all regions, especially the Global South,” he concluded.
As South Africa steers the G20 through 2025, the alignment of G20-AU priorities will remain a litmus test of the group’s commitment to inclusive multilateralism. Whether this presidency results in transformative outcomes for the continent will depend on sustained engagement, policy implementation, and the political will of the world’s leading economies.
