Zuma concludes G20 summit

South Africa made some progress at the G20 Summit in Mexico but there was still “a long way to go” to advance Africa's development goals, President Jacob Zuma said yesterday.

“More work is needed still to reform international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank so that they can become more responsive to the needs of the developing world,” he said in a statement.

“More work must be done as well to mainstream the development agenda within the G20”.

Zuma represented the country in Los Cabos from Monday.

South Africa is the only African member of the G20, a group of the world's major economies.
He said world leaders engaged effectively with each other and agreed to more international economic cooperation to support stability and growth.

“Overall, we agreed that we should put more emphasis on growth. Fiscal consolidation should not be done too quickly. We have also agreed to an accountability system which will help us ensure that we meet our commitments.”

Zuma gave his support for Africa's development agenda, which included more support for continental infrastructure investment, new strategies for agricultural development and tools for “green” growth.

The president had flown to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to attend the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development.