By Blessing Chinagorom
The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has made a courtesy call on South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa at Mahlamba Ndlopfu, the President’s official residence in Tshwane where he was received on Wednesday.
According to the statement released by UN Spokesman, stated that Secretary-General met with Ramaphosa, President of Republic of South Africa while both discussed areas of cooperation between South Africa and the United Nations.
Following South Africa’s assumption of the G20 Presidency on 1 December 2024, the meeting explored how best the G20 can meaningfully contribute towards making sure that the world meets the goals of the Pact for the Future.
Discussions focused on enhancing collaboration between South Africa as the Presidency of the G20 and the UN, to take forward discussions on accelerating reforms of the international financial architecture.
The UN chief and S’African leader exchanged views on issues of common interest, which includes the Sustainable Development Goals, reform of international financial architecture, Financing for Development, Climate Action and the G20 agenda for 2025.
They both discussed issues pertaining to the priorities of South Africa’s Presidency of the G20 while the Secretary-General expressed his total solidarity with the African continent in its search for justice, particularly in the areas of financing and Climate Action.
The Secretary-General vowed to fully committed to supporting the priorities of the South African presidency whose programme is very much aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Pact for the Future.
The UN Secretary-General’s courtesy call on President Ramaphosa is on the context of the UN leader’s mission to Southern Africa, which is centred on his attendance of the bicentennial celebrations in Lesotho on Thursday, 12 December 2024.
