Your Excellences,

This year will go down as a watershed moment in global cooperation and coordination in the area of development.

I have in mind the conference held in Addis Ababa in July 2015 which deliberated the very important matter of how we finance development. 

The adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015, laid out a promise to the 7.3 billion people living in this planet. Leaders committed to end poverty and hunger everywhere; combat inequalities within and among countries; build peaceful, just and inclusive societies; protect human rights; promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls; and ensure the lasting protection of the planet and its natural resources.

As leaders of G20 we have a moral responsibility to lead in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In this regard the Financing for Development Outcomes and the Addis Ababa Action Plan are extremely important to enable us to achieve these ambitious goals.

Excellencies,

South Africa is deeply honoured to be co-chairs of the G20 work on Development and Climate change. We have covered a lot of ground in this area of our work during the Turkish Presidency.

I am happy that on development our deliberations here in Antalya mirror and take forward the Sustainable Development Agenda.

The key highlights thereof include the following;

• Enhanced policy coherence and accountability through ensuring that the different working groups work together and feed into each other on issues such as employment and human resource development; infrastructure and investment; tax, and capacity building;

• Finance, Labour and Employment ministers taking firm steps to reduce youth unemployment by 15%, especially for the most vulnerable youth.  

• The W20 met for the first time and came up with a programme on women and girl empowerment.

• The energy access plan focussing on Sub Saharan Africa.

and

• Reducing the cost of remittances; and enhancing financial inclusions which target SMMEs

We also welcome the work on inclusive business which has the potential to enable business to increase their contribution to poverty eradication and reducing inequality.

South Africa fully supports proposals for future work of the G20 on development.

It would be important for the G20 to determine the unique value addition that the G20 brings to facilitating the implementation of relevant Sustainable Development Goals and associated targets.

In this way, we would avoid duplicating what is being accomplished in other forums, while, at the same time, honouring our commitment to take decisive action to end poverty everywhere.

In Africa, we took our 2063 Development Agenda a step further by adopting the 2015 year of women’s empowerment and development towards agenda 2063. 

That empowerment framework contains a commitment to amongst others, push forward the economic empowerment of women; enhancing women’s contribution and benefits from formal agriculture/agribusiness value chains and so on.

In South Africa, we are implementing the National Development Plan, Vision 2030, which aims at eradicating poverty and reducing inequality by 2030.

The plan focuses on many aspects that seek to improve the quality of life of our people by building infrastructure and improving the quality of social services such as education and health.

With regard to climate change, South Africa fully supports France in its capacity as incoming COP21/CMP11 President and will continue to work with France towards finding fair compromises and consensus positions between Parties, which will lead to the adoption of an ambitious outcome in Paris that is “applicable to all”.

This would mark the successful conclusion of the mandate from the Durban conference in 2011 which has significant meaning for South Africa.

The mandate from that meeting was to adopt an internationally legally binding instrument under the UNFCCC that can comprehensively address climate change.

For South Africa it is important that the multilateral process on climate change be respected and that it leads to the adoption of a fair agreement in Paris. This agreement should serve our twin objectives of ensuring environmental integrity, whilst protecting the development space of developing countries.

A key element of the Paris Agreement would be the provision of financial resources, including technology transfer and capacity building to development countries. It is essential that existing financial commitments be honoured and that a clear roadmap be agreed to, on how the 100 billion US dollars in climate finance per annum by 2020, committed by developed countries, will be realised. 

It is essential as well that existing commitments covering the pre-2020 period are honoured and that the second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol comes into force - preferably before COP21/CMP11.

In South Africa we are taking steps to reduce our carbon footprint. We have managed to attract investment of over fourteen million dollars for the construction of about six thousand megawatts of renewable energy.

Colleagues,

I am sure you will agree with me that Turkey has indeed the promise to have a presidency characterised by the three Is: Inclusiveness; Implementation, and Investment for growth.

Please join me colleagues in extending our sincerest gratitude to Turkey as we welcome the Chinese as President.

We cannot rest until growth is inclusive, sustained and high such that no human being suffers the indignity of poverty.

I thank you.