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Patrick Hayford

JOHANNESBURG. – African representatives attending the ongoing T20 Africa conference in Johannesburg on Wednesday called on the G20 to allow them to present their own problems rather than having them put forward by others.

The meeting was organised by South African Institute of International Affairs, German Development Institute and Institute for the World Economy.

Germany is the current chairman of G20 having taken over from China in December 2016. The first T20 African conference was attended by diplomatic corps, think tanks from Africa and G20 countries, policy makers from South Africa, Germany, international and African regional organisations.

The conference aims to find a way how the future cooperation between Africa and G20 should look like. The former director of the UN office of the Special Adviser in Africa, Patrick Hayford said there should be a synergy of partnerships between multilateral organisations like BRICS and G7/8 and Africa, among others.

“Africa must take charge of its own destiny about itself. Africa must believe in itself and push forward the agenda set by itself and implement it. The continent should also get over the idea of Sub-Saharan Africa. G20 should engage Africa as a whole continent,” Hayford said.

Hayford said that Africa is still divided according to who was the former colonial masters, French speaking and the English and this will disrupt their engagement with the G20.

He also lamented that 70 to 80 percent of the African Union (AU) funding is from abroad and Africa must be prepared to fund their projects.

The Head of Governance in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Francis Ikome said, the G20 should help Africa’s industrialisation and transformation. – Xinhua.