The African continent will be at the centre of global policymaking in the coming year. The African Union joined the G20 under India’s presidency in 2023, and South Africa is taking over the grouping’s presidency later this year. The primacy of the Global South as a geopolitical and geoeconomic actor has been underlined by successive G20 presidencies, from Indonesia to India to Brazil.
Yet the agenda of global governance reform—essential to rebalance international institutions and reflect the realities of the 21st century—remains incomplete. The second Cape Town Conversation will push forward the agenda developed in the G20 Delhi Declaration, in support of South Africa’s turn as G20 president in 2025.
The year 2024 has been one of turmoil. Spillovers from conflicts in Africa, West Asia, and Europe continue to impact supply chains and access to critical resources. For the Global South, peace and development are paramount interests: but multilateral cooperation is yet to deliver tangible results in this field. Progress on the reform agenda has been sluggish and prolonged, resulting in a disordered global system. The potential of trade and connectivity remains unrealised, held hostage to strategic and geopolitical considerations.
Amidst all the chaos, the global south remains a ray of hope. It encapsulates regions where economic growth has remained steady, where populations are receptive to new ideas and transformative policies, and where the political will for change remains strong.
The time has come for multilateral frameworks and the international financial architecture to discard their biases and truly address the needs of Global South countries by enabling the flow of large-scale “additional” capital to tackle urgent challenges like climate change and rising sovereign debt crises. With many countries struggling to secure essential financing due to high capital costs, MDBs must play their part by leveraging additional affordable funds through bond markets, providing guarantees, or rechannelling IMF-issued SDRs. Additionally, increasing the voting rights of Global South countries on the boards of major global financial institutions, enhancing their control over global tax mechanisms, and developing a sustainable debt workout system are essential steps to ensuring equitable and effective financial support.
How can growth and development be made central to the global agenda? New industrial and trade policies in the Global North and elsewhere are closing off markets and investment to emerging economies. Concerns about sovereign debt restrict social spending and inclusion by developing-world governments and constrain their ability to tap private capital markets to fund their expenditure.
● What are the ways in which Western industrial policy must be altered to make space for the trade and development aspirations of the Global South?
● How can the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank reform their governance and strategies to better support Global South countries through sovereign debt arrangements, including debt-for-climate and debt-for-nature swaps, and climate-resilient debt clauses?
● How can development strategies ensure that concerns about gender and historically disadvantaged communities are foregrounded, without compromising on growth momentum?
The 21st century should be an age of peace, not of war. But old enmities have turned violent across the world, in Europe, Africa, and Asia. In the process, the limits of the multilateral system have been sharply revealed. Neither the African nor the Indian subcontinent are strangers to conflict—yet they have pioneered unique models of reconciliation and conflict resolution that operate through democratic politics and mutual international respect. The post-World War II multilateral system is collapsing since the Global North is abandoning the institutions it built. Other institutions have not adapted to the realities of our times, making them derelict.
● Is it time for new systems of governance, by and for the Global South? Is the new world order emerging or does it need creating?
●Is a multipolar world necessarily a chaotic one? If not, what institutions and partnerships can help stabilise it, and what role must the countries of the Global South play?
● Can the global commons—from the financial system to post-war multilateral institutions to the principles of international law—serve a neutral and unbiased role in a time of geopolitical rivalry?
● How can reconciliation and peaceful dialogue be given greater emphasis in international action, given the development world’s urgent need to prioritise development?
The world’s growth depends upon ensuring that entrepreneurs, innovators, and workers in its most dynamic economies can harness digital technologies to meet their needs. The Global South is going through both the third and fourth industrial revolutions simultaneously: both industrialising and digitalising simultaneously. New platforms and digital public infrastructure must be inclusive; regulations for new technologies like artificial intelligence must not create new barriers for the developing world.
● What are the emerging paradigms across the developing world that balance access to cutting-edge technology and sovereign concerns?
● What does innovator-friendly digital public infrastructure look like? How can it be administered and implemented?
● Are the countries that were left out of the Industrial Revolution going to profit from the AI revolution—or will profits only flow to the rich entrenched powers?
The green transition requires materials and it requires finance. Access to secure supply chains for both will determine the success of not just mitigation strategies in the emerging world, but also the degree to which they can benefit from the fruits of green growth.
●What are the ways in which private finance can work with multilateral institutions and with sovereign governments to fund climate-sensitive projects in the Global South? Do we need new south-focused institutions that take sensible stands on credit ratings, currency hedging and political risk?
●How can we harmonise global and multinational efforts to drive international financial reform and deliver scaled-up climate investment programs through country platforms in the Global South?
● What evolving partnerships determine how countries in the Global South can ensure that the critical minerals revolution is inclusive and secure, and creates wealth and jobs in the countries that produce and consume them?
● Is green policy in the Global North merely protectionism under another name? How can the developing world access the technologies and finance they need to survive the Anthropocene?
Connectivity, particularly regional and internal connectivity has been a pain point for trade and growth in not just the African continent but much of Asia and South America. Directing investment in sustainable infrastructure needs new and innovative thinking. Transport and connectivity via rail, road, sea, and river, all require special attention.
Oceans and the blue economy also implicate growth as they address a different aspect of connectivity: connecting the emerging world to markets and factories elsewhere. These dynamics must be navigated in a way that is responsive to the needs of developing countries, particularly in the African continent.
● How has the African Continental free trade area changed the game? What is the potential of the continent as a market and as a producer, and how can it be harnessed through better infrastructure?
● Can private capital be used to build this infrastructure, or is it inevitable that it will be public money?