G20 Ministerial Meeting: For Global Sustainable Development

The G20 symbol in Rio de Janeiro (Brazi;) last November. (Photo: THX/TTXVN)

The G20 ministerial meeting taking place in South Africa focuses on mobilizing resources and means of implementation needed to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in the context of many key sustainable development goals being stagnant or even regressing.

The G20 represents nearly 70% of the world’s population and 80% of global GDP. However, the group has struggled to reach consensus in recent years. As the first African country to hold the rotating G20 presidency, South Africa is committed to promoting Southern priorities, such as increasing climate resilience and tackling public debt in developing countries.

This G20 Forum, taking place within the framework of South Africa's Presidency and ending on July 25, focuses on the theme "Solidarity, sustainability and equality", demonstrating the commitment to a fair and resilient global recovery.

South Africa's Minister for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Maropene Ramokgopa, said the country will push the G20 to make concrete commitments to increase public investment in areas that go beyond national borders such as health , climate change response and poverty reduction.

Earlier, South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola warned that increasing global fragmentation threatens to create unprecedented instability and disproportionately affect low-income countries. He pointed out that strategic competition, economic decoupling and proxy conflicts are weakening multilateral institutions and pushing the world into a state of prolonged instability.

Mr. Lamola stressed that these developments are exacerbating fragility in fragile regions and weakening the rules-based international order. He called on the G20 to play its role in promoting global peace and stability.

In its G20 Presidency, South Africa warned that the decline in international cooperation and the move away from the rules-based global order is posing a serious threat to the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, in particular on eradicating hunger, reducing extreme poverty and tackling climate change.

Adopted by 193 member states in 2015, the SDGs set 17 ambitious targets on education, climate, gender equality and more. But progress is slowing and risks backsliding. Geopolitical risks, trade imbalances and rising trade barriers are pushing development goals out of reach, while climate change continues to exacerbate the situation, according to South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.

After 10 years of implementation, many key goals are stagnant or regressing compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic. The SDGs 2023 report shows that only about 35% of the goals have made progress, nearly 50% have stagnated and the rest are regressing. Currently, about 757 million people (9.1% of the world's population) still live in poverty, more than 800 million people in extreme poverty.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the world is facing a global development emergency, with public debt burdens draining resources needed to invest in people. The UN stressed that without drastic and coordinated action, many of the goals will not be met on time.

South Africa called on the G20 to demonstrate global leadership and cooperate to address challenges, including increasing trade barriers, especially in the context of policies of some major economies such as the US that are impacting the global trade order and could negatively affect the world economic outlook.

To protect consumers, financial experts urged G20 central banks to commit to maintaining independence and price stability. The G20 was also called on to promote comprehensive and systemic solutions to effectively address public debt in low- and middle-income countries, creating a solid financial foundation for timely implementation of the sustainable development goals.

SOUTH

Source: https://nhandan.vn/hoi-nghi-cap-bo-truong-g20-vi-su-phat-trien-ben-vung-toan-cau-post895336.html