Most prominent amongst these is the G20 Leaders summit, held for the first time in Washington on November 15th, 2008, which produced a surprisingly detailed communique. Since then the global economy has deteriorated sharply, and interest in the London Summit, convened by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for April 2nd, 2009, is high.
African countries, many of which have just escaped from decades of macroeconomic dislocations now find themselves staring once more into the abyss through no fault of their own. Yet with the exception of South Africa, they are not G20 members and hence are not represented at what could amount to the most critical economic governance forum for the next few decades. These lacunae motivated SAIIA, supported by the Canadian High Commission in South Africa, to organize a workshop in advance of the London Summit to explore what key African issues South Africa could advance in London.
