Riyaz Patel
President Cyril Ramaphosa has concluded his working visit to Biarritz, France, where he urged the world’s most advanced economies to partner with Africa in exploring opportunities presented by free trade and the digital economy.
Ramaphosa was invited by French President Emmanuel Macron to participate in the 2019 G7 Summit which was dedicated to addressing inequalities in its various forms in global society.
The Summit was structured into three tracks: G7 and Africa Partnership (South Africa, Rwanda, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Senegal and the Chair of the African Union Commission), G7 and four Biarritz Partners (South Africa, India, Australia and Chile), and the G7 and all partners.
The two-day working visit saw resident Ramaphosa addressing various Summit forums and participated in a working lunch that brought together African Union Chair President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, along with the presidents Rwanda, Senegal and Burkina Faso.
The President also held bilateral talks with Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and Canada, as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
With Pretoria preparing to assume the Chairmanship of the African Union (AU) in 2020, Ramaphosa used the bilateral engagements to solicit and bolster support for the AU’s developmental Agenda 2063.
He also expressed South Africa’s commitment to mitigate the effects of climate change that will protect jobs and livelihoods and offer communities equitable, affordable access to emerging alternatives in energy.
He underlined the potential opportunities stemming from the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) that will create the world’s largest single free trade area with a market of 1,2 billion people.
“I would like to commend the leaders of the G7 for seeking to reorient its relationship with Africa to tackle these challenges,” Ramaphosa said.
We are therefore looking forward to developing concrete initiatives through the G7 Africa partnership that will support Agenda 2063 and the digital transformation of Africa.
With peace and stability a key feature of the G7 Africa Partnership dialogue, Ramaphosa urged his African counterparts and G7 leaders to support interventions seeking peace across the continent.
He further “commended G7 leaders for seeking to reorient the relationship with Africa” to tackle developmental challenges and said the advent of 4th Industrial Revolution technologies was an important development in human progress.
But, he cautioned, “if deliberate efforts were not taken, the digital divide could widen and worsen economic disparities.”
The South African President urged the G7 to remain engaged with Africa to ensure digitisation reduces inequality and supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and inclusive economic growth.
Ramaphosa said the empowerment of women was central in poverty eradication and promoting inclusive economic growth in Africa.
“In this regard, eliminating financing barriers that discriminate against women can increase women entrepreneurship while expanding economic opportunities and enabling them to participate meaningfully in the economy.”
President Ramaphosa will travel from France to Yokohama, Japan, where he will participate in the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).
The Tokyo International Conference on African Development will be convened under the theme of “Advancing Africa’s Development through Technology, Innovation and People.”
TICAD is a multilateral leaders’ forum on African development that was first convened in 1993 in Japan.
TICAD VII has identified three overarching priorities, namely accelerating economic transformation and improving business environment through innovation and private sector engagement; deepening sustainable and resilient society, and strengthening peace and stability.
The discussions in Yokohama will focus on science, technology and innovation; human resource development and education; the oceans economy; climate change and disaster risk reduction, and agriculture.
His punishing Japanese itinerary also includes a series of back-to-back trade and investment engagements, including a business roundtable at Nissan Corporation’s headquarters.
