The phenomenal rise of China and India, but equally the growing assertion of other developing countries on the global stage such as Brazil and South Africa, has placed the debate about a reform agenda for global governance bodies squarely on the table.
During 2007-08 the Konrad Adenauer Foundation commissioned five studies in the G5 countries that would examine these countries’ perspectives on global governance.
To the apparent surprise of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Washington last month, George Bush, outgoing President of the United States of America (US), proposed that a formal summit of G20 heads of state convene in Washington on November 15th.
South Africa, The G-20 Leaders’ Summit and the Financial Crisis
Though the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiations between the EU and ACP countries are meant to inter alia promote regional integration, their immediate impact has been the further fragmentation of existing regional economic bodies across Africa (except for the EAC), even putting the sustainability of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) into doubt.
The negotiations for Economic Partnerships Agreements (EPAs) between African Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) and the European Union (EU) were launched in 2000.
For the first time in many years, a political event brought tears to my eyes as Barack Obama was elected at the 44th president of the United States of America.
In recent year’s South Africa’s current account deficit has ballooned to potentially alarming proportions, thrown into sharp relief by the current and escalating global financial crisis.
Since 1994, South Africa firms have emerged as some of the largest investors in the rest of Africa. Present in a wide range of sectors across the continent, they have been involved in changing not only Africa’s cityscapes and societies, but also, significantly, the conduct of business in the region.
Introductions to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) often throw in the following phrase: ‘the APRM may be one of the most innovative developments in the African governance debate of the 21st century’.
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