Africa the next frontier for global growth says Ramaphosa
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Africa the next frontier for global growth says Ramaphosa
Africa has an unrivalled natural resource endowment says President.
By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine
Many agree that Africa is the next frontier of global growth and productivity. The African continent has an unrivalled natural resource endowment, with the youngest population of all continents.
This is according to South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa. Ramaphosa spoke at the opening of the 55th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
With South Africa recently assuming the G20 Presidency, Ramaphosa outlined Africa’s objectives for the G20 Summit, set to take place in Johannesburg on 18 and 19 November 2025, the first to be hosted in Africa.
He said South Africa will focus its G20 Presidency on three themes: solidarity, equality and sustainable development.
Harnessing critical minerals
Ramaphosa said that one of the top priorities for South Africa during its G20 presidency this year is to harness critical minerals for inclusive growth and development.
“We need a G20 framework on green industrialisation and investments to ensure progress towards a grand bargain that promotes value addition to critical minerals, particularly close to the source of extraction,” said Ramaphosa.
“There is a need to promote beneficiation and local value addition of resources at source, resulting in an additive rather than an extractive relationship.
“As minerals extraction accelerates to match the needs of the energy transition, the countries and local communities that are endowed with these rich resources must be the ones that benefit most. At the moment they don’t benefit much because the benefit flows out of their own countries to other locales in the world,” Ramaphosa said.
Championing critical minerals
We will use the G20 to champion the use of critical minerals through a programme of green industrialisation and as an engine for growth and development in Africa and the rest of the Global South.
As this will be the first G20 summit held in Africa, it is for us a valuable platform to demonstrate Africa’s promise.
Many agree that Africa is the next frontier of global growth and productivity.
Visit the WhyAfrica website
To read more about critical minerals and the natural resources of Africa, visit the WhyAfrica website (https://www.whyafrica.co.za/) your one-stop-shop for on the ground information and business intelligence about Africa.
WhyAfrica will cover the G20 Presidency of South Africa extensively in 2025 and our 2025 annual WhyAfrica Road Trip through Africa will culminate in attending the final Summit in Johannesburg on 18 and 19 November.
If you want to be part of the 2025 WhyAfrica Road Trip story through Africa, contact us before the end of February. Remember, if you are a WhyAfrica partner, sponsor, member or advertiser, there is a long list of benefits in being part of our event.
Africa the next frontier for global growth says Ramaphosa
