International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola is set to highlight Africa’s staggering conflicts, from Sudan to DRC and the urgent humanitarian challenges intensifying across the continent, according to the departmental spokesperson, following closed discussions at the Group of 20 (G20) meeting.
Departmental spokesperson Chrispin Phiri spoke to the media on Friday at the Nasrec Expo Centre, where the G20 meeting is taking place.
The two-day Foreign Ministers’ meeting which started on Thursday, is set to conclude on Friday.
The meeting is part of South Africa's G20 Presidency, which carries the theme of “Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability".
Addressing the media ahead of Lamola’s media briefing, Phiri said the minister is expected to address the geopolitical situation, which topped the discussions.
“There are a number of conflicts in the world, particularly in Africa. Africa has the most number of conflicts in the world, from Sudan right up to the DRC, and the humanitarian crises that are prevailing in those countries are quite alarming,” Phiri said.
He added that the G20 foreign ministers discussed this extensively, and Lamola would speak further on it.
“The ministers also spoke about the conflicts in Europe with Ukraine and in Gaza, Palestine,” he added.
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Phiri stated that current discussions focus on South Africa’s G20 presidency task force, including issues such as food security and artificial intelligence, and how to ensure global consensus on these matters that affect humanity.
“The minister will speak to that in some detail, but these are ongoing conversations,” Phiri said.
He added that Lamola would also highlight the strong consensus supporting the country’s presidency theme.
“Everyone supported our theme, and people rallied behind it. Foreign ministers were quite clear on the importance of multilateralism, and the G20 as an instrument of multilateralism really rallied behind the system, ensuring that the United Nations (UN) and its institutions are more effective,” he said.
Phiri also mentioned that Lamola held bilateral meetings with foreign ministers from Norway, Netherlands, and Brazil.
“Those meetings were really important, we had bilaterals with Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, and all those foreign ministers supported the South African G20 presidency, deepening bilateral relations with South Africa,” Phiri said.
“These countries share common values around equality, the rule of law and international law and humanitarian law,” he added.
Phiri said more bilateral talks would take place on Friday, with counterparts from China, Germany and other nations.
“The common theme as well, will be the centrality of international law in the multilateral system and deepening financial relations.”
With the absence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the meeting, Phiri said Lamola did not have concerns about his absence during the closed sessions.
The US is represented by the embassy staff.
“They (referring to the embassy staff) represent here, representing their country positions and contributing to the discussions,” Phiri said.
“It is not as if the US has boycotted the meeting. They are fully participating as a member state.”
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