Ireland and the G20

It has been an honour for Ireland to have been invited this year by South Africa to participate in the G20 as a guest country. South Africa’s G20 presidency is especially significant as the first ever hosted on the African continent. 

We are grateful for this opportunity to contribute to discussions on significant global challenges under the priorities of the South African presidency of ‘Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability’, priorities that we strongly support and share. As a small country with a strong global outlook, working in a constructive manner with international partners is at the heart of our foreign policy. 

We have sought to bring our commitment to positive and constructive engagement to our work in the G20, bringing our voice and values to this important forum. 

We have been active across all of the G20 working groups and taskforces, prioritising areas that resonate with our own experiences, such as global food security, combatting poverty and hunger, gender equality, harnessing innovation for inclusive growth and an open and fair-trading system, all underpinned by our support for inclusive decision-making.

We have sought to bring the perspective of a smaller and highly networked economy to the table in discussions, including on global financial architecture and sustainable development. 

We strongly believe in free and open trade, which has underpinned our economic development and success. As Ireland’s experience of economic transformation shows, open trade brings economic opportunities, creates well-paid jobs and fosters innovation. It builds economic resilience within a strong rules-based international trading system. 

The Johannesburg Summit in 2025 comes at a time when the multilateral system is under strain, when many of the values that have underpinned international cooperation in recent decades are being questioned and eroded. 

At this crossroads, the world can continue to pursue a more just, secure and sustainable shared future, or we can fall back into an order in which fragmentation, confrontation and discord prevail, and the big dominate the small. 

Ireland will always choose the former, not just out of self-interest, but because it is the only route to win-win outcomes. 

Life is not a zero-sum game. We can all develop and thrive together. Cooperation and coordination can create virtuous cycles which bring benefit to all. Sustainable development can bring economic growth. New technology, if harnessed to good purpose, has the potential to transform our world enormously for the better. 

Yes, the geopolitical backdrop is more challenging than it has been for some time. Yet the G20 remains an indispensable table around which the most significant economic global actors sit, where differences can be aired and common solutions found. Despite divisions, what has struck us is just how much common ground there is. 

Navigating our way forward, we need to keep that reality at the front of our thinking. We also need to keep true to the important global anchors we have created to keep the world safe – international law, the United Nations Charter, effective multilateral institutions and the means to ensure accountability. 

The South African presidency has put forward priorities that promote inclusive sustainable growth. As we approach the summit, all G20 members and guests should focus on what we can practically and tangibly achieve together to bring benefit to all the world’s people. 

Ireland especially supports South Africa’s aim to revitalise the drive towards achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, our best roadmap for transforming our world for the better.

After 20 years, it is timely that the Presidency is also overseeing a review of the G20’s work and working methods. It is a valuable opportunity to further strengthen its efficiency, effectiveness and capacity to take decisions. Ireland recognises the important work of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and other knowledge partners, in this respect.

I hope the review will capture the value brought to the G20’s work by the programme of activity and outputs across its engagement groups. The G20 is an important site of democratic global engagement, and the dialogue with civil society, non-government institutions and with the relevant G20 business, parliamentary and judicial groups is a valuable input and offers important perspectives.

Extending a welcome to guest countries is a further way to advance inclusivity. We have sought to make our contribution as a guest meaningful and constructive and would welcome the opportunity to build on this under future presidencies. The solutions to the shared challenges we face lie in the spirit of global cooperation and Ireland is ready to contribute its voice and experience to this important forum.

Ireland sincerely thanks South Africa for enabling us to make our contribution this year. It has been
a privilege. 

We wish South Africa every success in the finalisation of its work as G20 presidency and we look forward to the leadership the United States will offer when it takes over the task. Ireland stands ready to continue and build upon our G20 engagement and participation.