South Africa hosts first G20 framework meeting

Cape Town, Jan 14 (IANS) Technical meetings under the Group of 20 (G20) Finance Track began this week with the first Framework Working Group (FWG) meeting, the South African Government News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The virtual FWG meeting, held from Monday to Tuesday, followed South Africa's assumption of the G20 presidency, marked by the first G20 Sherpa and Finance Track meetings in December 2024.

According to the report, Monday's session focused on major global growth headwinds, ongoing supply and demand risks to inflation, and main fiscal challenges. Delegates also assessed Africa's economic outlook. On Tuesday, discussions centered on the draft FWG work plan for 2025.

This meeting is the first of four FWG sessions scheduled for 2025. "The remaining three meetings for this working group are scheduled for April, June, and September, in person, in venues across the country," said the report.

South Africa's National Treasury and Reserve Bank are jointly overseeing the G20 Finance Track, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The mandate of the FWG is to promote strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth, and does so by identifying, monitoring, and assessing global macroeconomic risks, vulnerabilities, and uncertainties, and recommending suitable policy responses to global shocks and cross-cutting global challenges," according to a statement by the National Treasury.

The G20 Leaders' Summit is expected to be held in Johannesburg, the largest city and economic hub of South Africa, in November 2025.

Last month, while addressing the first G20 Sherpas Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Raymond Lamola outlined the host country's agenda to advance shared global goals through key priorities.

In his address, Lamola highlighted the theme of South Africa's presidency, 'Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability', and emphasised key objectives such as bolstering disaster resilience, addressing debt challenges faced by low-income countries, and mobilizing resources for a just energy transition.

"We will address these challenges through our high-level deliverables and priorities, which lie at the core of the original G20 mandate of promoting strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth and by building partnerships across all sectors of society to find collective solutions," he said.

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