Argentina’s hosting of the G20 summit in 2018 presents a significant opportunity for it to represent the needs and expectations of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as a whole, as well as advancing a cohesive regional strategy of the Latin American bloc within the G20 (Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico). Historically, Latin American regional priorities have often been marginalised in G20 debates as a result of the failure of the Latin American bloc to present a well-articulated, cohesive position on key issues on the G20 agenda. A focus on the social and environmental dimension are reflective of a shared Latin America agenda, which extends to the needs and expectations of the Global South more broadly. For instance, in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, Brazil and Argentina have used the G20 platform to push for enhancement of basic financial regulations, an emphasis on public policies of inclusion in light of growing inequality globally, employment policies, fair commercialization of raw materials and investment in housing, education and health.

The round table, which focused on South Africa’s 2018 foreign policy agenda during the course of the year, also looked towards possible projections for 2019, and took place on the 22 February 2018 in Pretoria at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).

South Africa’s 2018 foreign policy agenda is possibly its busiest since 1994. The country finds itself chairing the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) partnership and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), while it is also involved in the G20 summit. It also co-chairs the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), as well as chairing the Southern African Development Community (SADC). This provides an opportunity for the country to continue its pursuit of a developmental African and global South agenda.

Dr. Philani Mthembu, Executive Director of the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD), opened the dialogue by providing a brief review of South Africa’s diplomatic calendar for 2018, which is one of the busiest in the post-1994 era. The BRICS partnership, one of several foreign policy agenda items, has continued to evolve as it enters the beginning of its second decade. BRICS is no longer just a high-level government-to-government partnership; it has grown to include numerous tracks of diplomacy and increasingly put an emphasis on the importance of people-to-people relations through track two (think tanks and business) and track three (civil society) diplomacy.

Dr. Philani Mthembu, Executive Director at the Institute for Global Dialogue, opened the event by contextualising the day’s discussion and explained that the dialogue falls under South Africa’s second track diplomacy, whereby academic institutions, think tanks and researchers interact. South Africa pushed to have this interaction institutionalised in 2013 through its first BRICS Presidency. He then outlined that this policy dialogue will expand a number of topics that have been discussed at numerous BRICS meetings throughout the year involving the South Africa BRICS Think Tank, other research or think tank organisations, universities, civil society organisations, and government departments, such as the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO).

The New Development Bank (NDB), also referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, was established as a legal entity in 2015, it is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). The bank aims to support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments. The bank also plans to work together with international organisations and other financial entities and provide technical assistance for projects to be supported by the bank. The bank has its headquarters in Shanghai, China with the first regional office of the NDB in Johannesburg, South Africa.