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summit meetings
Urban 20 summit 2025: Tshwane and Joburg lead global conversations on sustainable cities
Discover how the Urban 20 Summit 2025, co-chaired by Tshwane and Joburg, aims to transform cities through sustainable initiatives and economic opportunities.
Parliament weighing options on venues, but warns of costs
Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said she hoped that by April 1 they will be ready with a venue for sittings of Parliament.
Summit provides opportunity to fight for credible climate goals
OPINION: COP28 provides a critical opportunity to escalate our fight for climate justice and system change and raise long-standing demands for real solutions, writes Shanice Firmin.
SA-China relations 25 years on
OPINION: Trade between China and South Africa has grown from $1. 3 billion in 2000 to over $56 billion in 2022, making China South Africa’s largest trading partner while South Africa is China’s biggest trade partner in Africa, writes David Monyae.
President Cyril Ramaphosa welcomes loss and damage fund at COP28
President Cyril Ramaphosa said they welcome the loss and damage fund and the pledges that have already been made.
COP28: Countries must implement agreements and cut emissions
OPINION: We expect countries to implement the agreements to cut greenhouse gas emissions that were made in previous COPS, such as Egypt, Paris, and Glasgow. They must agree to significant global commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions and share the time frame to achieve this target, writes Kershni Ramreddi.
Patel says they will fight for Agoa renewal
Minister of Trade and Industry Ebrahim Patel said it was worth fighting for the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).
Ramaphosa reiterates call for ICC to probe war crimes, calls for UN rapid deployment force
President Cyril Ramaphosa said he believes BRICS can play a role in finding peace in the Middle East.
Ramaphosa convenes BRICS meeting on Gaza crisis
President Cyril Ramaphosa will lead discussions on the crisis in Gaza in a virtual meeting to be attended by BRICS leaders, including President Xi Jinping of China, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.
First step to ease tension between Beijing and Washington
OPINION: This bilateral summit in the US could not have come soon enough, as it provides these two countries an opportunity to close ranks and avert further fallout which would have devastating impact on the global economy and security, writes David Monyae.
Corruption stunting the deepening of democracy, development
OPINION: The huge impact of corruption can also be linked to the functionality of state-owned entities such as the power utility, writes Gwinyai Taruvinga.
Agoa has not addressed structural issues
OPINION: The Agoa forum met during a time of Middle East conflict and a war between Israelis and Palestinians as well as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, writes Ashraf Patel.
President Joe Biden calls on US Congress to extend Agoa beyond 2025
US President Joe Biden urged the US Congress to extend Agoa in a timely fashion and to “modernise this important Act for the economic opportunities of the coming decade. ”
US reinstates Mauritania in Agoa as summit gets under way
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Mauritania has made progress in addressing worker issues in the last four years and the US has reinstated it in Agoa.
Biden axes four African countries from Agoa over human rights violations
US President Joe Biden said he will exclude Niger, Gabon, the Central African Republic and Uganda from Agoa because of their failure to meet Agoa requirements.
SA spent R104 million on BRICS summit
Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor said the cost to cover the BRICS summit did not extend to the BRICS Parliamentary Forum.
Should labour withdraw from the Agoa summit while Israel bombs Gaza?
OPINION: Labour’s current meek and uncritical participation in preparation for the Agoa summit sharply contrasts with their publicly stated positions of “unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people in their quest for justice, peace and for the end of violence,” writes Woody Aroun.
Tension over foreign policies and wars in Europe, Middle East
OPINION: The Agoa summit could not have come at a more awkward time for South Africa and the US. It will come amid the Palestinian-Israeli war which has divided global opinion. South Africa and the US are on opposing sides once again. While the US has pledged its support for Israel, arguing that the Jewish state has a right to defend itself from the Hamas attack, South Africa has laid the blame on Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territory and pledged its support for the people of Palestine, writes Dr Sizo Nkala.
Commonwealth more about Global Britain than Global South
OPINION: By reviving the Commonwealth, it merely gives additional diplomatic burden on many poorer nation states who need to navigate a complex global order to secure a decent development deal, writes Ashraf Patel.
US policy in Asia played role in revival of Russia-China-North Korea axis
OPINION: Russia, China and North Korea need the alliance to undermine and blunt the US and the West’s hostility towards their respective governments. Since 2018, the US has been engaged in a trade war with China while identifying the country as a strategic threat, writes Dr Sizo Nkala.
BRICS Foreign Ministers’ summit cost SA about R10 million
The BRICS Foreign Ministers’ summit, which was held in Cape Town in June as a preparation for the leaders’ summit in August, discussed, among other issues, the expansion of the bloc.
Ramaphosa believes AU membership of G20 will give Africa a voice on key global decisions
President Cyril Ramaphosa said they had constructive engagements at the EU-African Leaders’ meeting, which was on the sidelines of G20, where they discussed food security, grain and fertiliser supply and the reform of the global financial institutions.
Ramaphosa and G20 leaders promise to build on progress made
President Cyril Ramaphosa and leaders of Brazil, India and the US want the G20 to address global challenges.
Revolutionary change is needed
OPINION: Climate change is moving much faster than we are, pushing ecosystems and communities to their limits. If people do not reverse direction and accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels and develop low-carbon, climate-resilient economies, we will the opportunity to limit temperature to 1. 5°C this century, with minimal overshoot, writes Kershni Ramreddi.
Ramaphosa calls on G20 to cooperate on food and energy security
President Cyril Ramaphosa says at a time the world economy faces headwinds, G20 member states and other countries must work together