In a world of increasing geopolitical fragmentation, Africa’s seat at the table is more important than ever before. Power is shifting, traditional alliances are loosening, and the rules that once governed international cooperation are rapidly being rewritten. In this environment, representation alone is no longer enough; influence is what matters.
The withdrawal of the US from its traditional role as leader of the multilateralism agenda, in favour of a more transactional and national interest-driven foreign policy stance, is accelerating the transition towards a multipolar world. Other actors have stepped forward to reaffirm the importance of international cooperation, but authority is increasingly dispersed across regions, coalitions, and competing economic blocs. This changing world order presents the opportunity for a new global social contract, one that reflects the realities of a world in which strategic resources and economic growth potential increasingly lie outside the Global North.
Africa sits at the heart of this transformation. It accounts for a growing share of the world’s population, holds critical natural resources, and represents the next frontier of economic expansion. Yet its influence in global decision-making remains limited, particularly in the institutions that shape financial rules, development priorities, and trade regimes. Few forums matter more in this regard than the Group of Twenty (G20).
The G20 represents around 85% of the global GDP, 75% of international trade, and nearly two-thirds of the world’s population. What began as a crisis-response mechanism following the 2008 financial crisis has quickly evolved into the premier platform for economic coordination, addressing issues ranging from debt relief and development finance to energy transitions, food security, and women’s empowerment. For African countries, whose economies are deeply affected by global capital flows, commodity cycles, and monetary policy decisions, the stakes could hardly be higher.
The G20 has rightly been criticised for being a club dominated by advanced economies. Its agenda has often reflected the priorities of the industrialised world, while developing regions have struggled to shape outcomes. The description of the forum as “the West versus the rest” captures this imbalance. Africa, despite bearing the brunt of climate shocks, debt distress and infrastructure gaps, has historically had little say in how global solutions to these problems are designed, despite repeated calls for “African solutions to African problems”.
This began to change in 2023, when the African Union (AU) was admitted as a permanent G20 member during India’s presidency. The move aimed to establish a unified and institutionalised African voice at the G20, extending beyond South Africa’s national representation. It was widely celebrated as a diplomatic breakthrough: formal recognition that Africa should no longer be represented indirectly or episodically but as a collective actor. However, access does not equal influence.
Membership opens the door, but it does not determine who sets the agenda, frames the debates, or shapes the compromises. Those outcomes depend on preparation, coordination and strategic clarity. Without these, Africa risks occupying a seat at the table while others continue to write the menu.
South Africa’s G20 presidency, the first G20 presidency ever hosted on African soil, offered a brief but hopeful glimpse of what is possible when continental priorities are pushed to the fore. Under the theme of “sustainability, solidarity and equality”, South Africa sought to orient discussions toward Global South concerns, including disaster risk reduction, financing energy transitions, and debt sustainability.
The 30-page Leaders’ Declaration that followed reflected this shift. Africa was mentioned 52 times, nearly four times more frequently than the declarations issued under the preceding Indian and Brazilian presidencies. Symbolism, however, has limits. G20 communiqués are voluntary and not legally binding. Their value lies in signalling intent, mobilising resources, and shaping the direction of future cooperation. Whether Africa benefits in practice depends on what happens after the cameras leave, on the willingness and determination of G20 members to implement and advocate for what they have endorsed.
Mainstreaming African interests into the international agenda through G20 engagement is one of the most practical ways the AU can play a driving role in shaping the terms of a new global contract. Doing so, however, requires deliberate and sustained coordination between South Africa, the AU Commission, individual member states, and regional groupings such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Several initiatives launched or expanded during South Africa’s presidency do provide concrete entry points for turning intent into action. The 2025-2030 G20 African Engagement Framework, endorsed by finance ministers and central bank governors in October 2025, seeks to deepen structured support for Africa’s economic development. The second phase of the G20 Compact with Africa, first introduced in 2017, continues efforts to support 13 participating countries in strengthening macroeconomic stability and creating more predictable investment environments.
The G20 Critical Minerals Framework aims to ensure that resource-rich countries maximise the benefits of their mineral resources. The Ubuntu Legacy Initiative, developed with the African Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank, and the World Bank, focuses on accelerating cross-border infrastructure projects across the continent. These initiatives offer a critical opportunity for the continent to mainstream its interests within global economic narratives through the G20.
Agenda 2063 offers a practical way to anchor this engagement. Adopted by the AU as the continent’s long-term development blueprint, it sets out a vision of integrated markets, industrial transformation, infrastructure expansion, technological innovation, and inclusive growth. Its priorities align directly with the policy domains that dominate the G20 agenda, including debt sustainability, development finance, climate adaptation, energy access, and food security. The AU Assembly has already identified Agenda 2063 as a guiding framework for Africa’s engagement with the G20. The challenge now is implementation.
Agenda 2063 can serve as more than a development plan; it can also function as a diplomatic anchor, a reference point for common positions, a filter through which initiatives are evaluated, and a basis for continuity across presidencies and political cycles.
Power flows from coherence, credibility, and the ability to translate priorities into policy outcomes. Anchoring G20 engagement in Agenda 2063 would help narrow differences between member states by grounding negotiations in collectively endorsed objectives. It would allow African representatives to move from reactive participation to proactive agenda-setting. It would also send a clear signal to other G20 members and partners that Africa’s priorities are structured, coherent, and unified.
South Africa’s role in this architecture is central. As the continent’s only permanent G20 member state, it occupies a unique position. Its responsibility is not merely to advance national interests but to act as a conduit for continental perspectives. That requires systematic consultation with the AU Commission, coordination with regional economic communities, and sustained technical collaboration.
The alternative is all too familiar: fragmented engagement, missed opportunities, and grand declarations that deliver little in practice. In a rapidly shifting multipolar order, Africa does not need louder rhetoric. It needs a common script.
Agenda 2063 provides one. The G20 offers the stage. Turning membership into meaningful influence will depend on whether the continent can finally speak with one voice where it matters most. The stage is set; now the question is whether Africa will seize it.
Nerissa Muthayan
Nerissa Muthayan is a Global Economic Governance Junior Researcher at the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ), where she focuses on advancing progressive Global South priorities across multilateral platforms. She holds a Master’s in Data Science (e-Science), an Honours in International Relations, and a Bachelor’s in International Relations, Political Science, and English Literature, all with distinction from the University of the Witwatersrand. She previously worked at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and was a visiting research fellow at the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea) in Brazil.
