Algeria Champions Africa’s Aspirations at G20 Ministerial Meeting

JOHANNESBURG, February 21, 2025—Algerian Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, National Community Abroad, and African Affairs, Ahmed Attaf, reaffirmed Algeria’s strong support for the four priorities outlined by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during his opening speech at the inaugural G20 ministerial meeting. He commended the special emphasis placed on addressing Africa’s needs and aspirations.

In a speech delivered on Friday during the third session of the G20 ministerial meeting, held under South Africa’s presidency, Attaf stated that Algeria “fully supports the four priorities outlined by President Cyrill Ramaphosa in his opening statement yesterday afternoon.” He specifically highlighted the president’s focus on the continent’s needs and aspirations, reinforcing that South Africa has been and remains a steadfast advocate for the legitimate issues and ambitions of Africa.

During this session, which was dedicated to outlining the G20 objectives for 2025 and South Africa’s priorities as president, Attaf emphasized that Algeria believes “that time has come to seriously tackle the major impediments and hurdles to Africa’s stability, development and integration.”

“Three endeavors that are of strategic dimension and nature deserve our full attention,” he noted. “The first among them is that of reforming the international financial and monetary institutions. We need institutions that are representative of today’s world and which can respond timely and efficiently to the variety of challenges affecting developing nations, notably African nations.”

The second among these strategic endeavors relates to “the urgent need to address Africa’s debt crisis to meet its development requirements. Africa needs the strong support of the G20 in this regard to navigate through the compounding crises of financial distress, climate change, food insecurity, and persistent conflicts,” the minister added.

” Africa should not be left behind the ongoing revolutions that are reshaping the future of mankind: in energy transition, in digitalization, and in artificial intelligence,” he asserted.

The third and last among these strategic endeavors is related to “the pressing imperative of fulfilling international commitments in terms of promoting financial support, partnerships, capacity building and technology transfer to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Agenda 2063 aspirations”.

In this context, “Algeria welcomes the initiative of South Africa to establish three task forces, dealing respectively with inclusive economic growth, food security and artificial intelligence,” Attaf affirmed. He added that Algeria believes such an approach could “create a new momentum in dealing with global pressing issues and challenges.”

“We equally believe that such an initiative will give more substance, ensure more effectiveness, and render more meaningful the international cooperation for global development,” Concluded Attaf.