the g20 south africa has the potential to contribute significantly to the growth and development agenda of the g - 20, with a particular focus on low - income countries and sub - saharan africa. in 2010 the g - 20 leaders declared in toronto that “ narrowing the development gap and reducing poverty are integral to our broader objective of achieving strong, sustainable and balanced growth and ensuring a more robust and resilient global economy for all. ” 1 toronto declaration, june 26 – 27, 2010. bis central bankers ’ speeches at the toronto summit, the g - 20 leaders confirmed the inclusion of development as a key agenda topic at the seoul summit and agreed to establish a working group. in 2010 south africa, alongside korea, was nominated to co - chair the g - 20 ’ s working group on development, which sought to address issues of significant importance to the african continent, in particular infrastructure development. in 2011, south africa was included as the co - chair of this group together with korea and france. while development issues are not prominent on the g - 20 ’ s agenda, south africa together with korea, provided the necessary leadership when it was decided to include development issues on the g - 20 ’ s agenda. south africa could use this process to position itself strongly in the g - 20 discussions on growth and development, to focus on the underdevelopment of various regions in the global economy, including sub - saharan africa, and promote these discussions on the global policy agenda. as part of the g - 20 ’ s focus on financial inclusion, south africa and germany co - chaired the sme finance sub - group, with the focus to crowd - in the private sector by incentivising it to develop innovative ways of financing smes through a g - 20 sme challenge launched in toronto. in 2012, south africa remained actively involved in this area together with the united states. while south africa, together with other emerging - market countries, acknowledges that it still has a long way towards improving financial inclusion in the country, the fact that it is encouraged to play a leading role in this endeavour within the g - 20 could help it to expedite financial inclusion policies in the country. south africa has a strong financial sector, and has used this to its advantage to contribute to g20 discussions to highlight its experience. in this regard, south africa together with other emerging - market countries put in a concerted effort highlighting the potential unintended consequences of some of the basel iii proposals, without detracting

work in the g - 20 has since revolved around three key areas, namely : a. policy coordination between members in an effort to achieve global economic stability and sustainable growth ; b. promoting global financial regulation to reduce risks and prevent future crises ; and c. reform of the international financial architecture / international monetary system. other areas of focus are development issues, commodities, and climate finance. a number of working groups have been formed since 2008, and south africa has been nominated to co - chair some of these working groups, such as the reform of the imf, development, financial inclusion and the climate finance study groups. south africa also participates in all the working groups, contributing to the discussions and putting forward our country positions and views and to ensure that our positions are captured in meetings of the finance ministers and central bank governors, and at leaders ’ summits. although g - 20 documents have no legal status, they serve as binding statements for members, and are a basis for further work. i thought i would briefly give you a flavour of how the work of the g - 20 has evolved over the years, although much more detail is available on the g - 20 website. leaders ’ summits are the key agenda setting fora, and i will touch on some of the key milestones in this regard. the first g - 20 summit in 2008, held in washington d. c. during the very early stages of the global financial crisis, was primarily focused on g - 20 co - operation, strengthening economic growth, dealing with the financial and economic crisis, and laying the foundation for stricter financial regulation. there was also recognition of the need to reform the imf, world bank and other multilateral development banks ( mdb ) and the need to resist trade protectionism and work towards the conclusion of the doha round. during the london summit in april 2009, the focus turned towards co - ordinated fiscal and monetary stimulus measures to avert the threat of global depression. leaders also agreed on additional resources for the imf and mdbs to assist countries weather the financial crisis, and resources of up to us $ 1 trillion were provided to the imf. the fsb was established as a successor to the financial stability forum ( fsf ) at the bank for international settlements ( bis ), with key emerging - market economies represented on the board, which was a departure from the fsf which represented only advanced economies. in september that same year, at the pittsburgh summit, leaders agreed on the