Youth of G20 nations must take lead for financial inclusion: South African minister

Johannesburg, Jun 12 (PTI) The youth of the G20 nations must take the lead for economic and financial inclusion within the global governance architecture of the intergovernmental forum, a South African minister has said.

South African Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Alvin Botes was speaking at a G20 Symposium under the theme: ‘Advancing Youth Inclusion in the G20 Presidency Agenda’ in the coastal city of eThekwini, formerly known as Durban.

The symposium held recently was one of a number of meetings being hosted by South Africa as it holds the Presidency of the G20 for this year.

“As the Cuban Revolutionary and Internationalist Che Guevara said, ‘the revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall’. It is the youth who must shake the tree, to realise economic and financial inclusion within the global governance architecture of the G20,” Botes said.

The minister reminded the delegates that it was the youth of South Africa who were the catalysts of the public outcries which eventually led to the release of Nelson Mandela He was referring to the marches by thousands of schoolchildren in the huge Black township of Soweto on June 16, 1976. Many lost their lives as apartheid-era policemen fired at them. The date has been marked annually as a public holiday in South Africa.

“It is trite that 16th of June 1976 was a tipping point in the struggle for the liberation of South Africa and acted as catalyst for re-igniting the spirit, bravery, boldness and boundless energy of the youth as well as the next generation of youth. Youth Day therefore reminds us that young South Africans have never been spectators of history; they have been its authors,” Botes said.

The minister quoted statistics from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which said that while global unemployment is hovering near a historic low of five per cent, globally the average for young people remains stubbornly high — about 13 per cent worldwide, and more than double that in many developing economies.

“Here at home, 4.8 million South Africans aged 15–34 are unemployed; 58 per cent of them have never had a single day of paid work, and our youth unemployment rate climbed to 46.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year,” Botes said.

“Compounding that uncertainty are intersecting crises of mental-health fragility, climate anxiety, escalating conflict-driven displacement, and the rising cost of living that now consumes, on average, 38 per cent of a young person’s monthly income across the G20,” he said.

Citing geopolitical polarisation, climate-related disasters, food-price shocks and widening digital divides as further impediments to youth development and progress, Botes said these issues were diverting funds to achieve the latter.

“Global public debt has surpassed US $100 trillion, forcing developing nations to divert scarce resources away from youth programmes toward interest payments. Against that backdrop, our objectives, outcomes and outputs for the G20 must be unapologetically youth-centred," he said.

Among the suggestions that Botes put forward were negotiating a compact on youth employment and skills; adding targets for digital-economy apprenticeships, and recognition of micro-credentials and mutual portability of qualifications across G20 members.

“If endorsed by leaders, the compact will hopefully translate into an estimated 10 million paid internship placements over five years, with a gender-parity clause and an annual public score-card so you can hold the G20 accountable,” he said.

Other plans included finance through blended public-private instruments to support start-ups led by women and young people in frontier technologies and green manufacturing.

Botes said the G20 was born in crisis after the 1997 Asian financial meltdown and re-energised amid the 2008 crash.

“It now faces a generation-defining test: can it re- tool the global economy so that young people inherit not debts and droughts but opportunity and hope? "South Africa believes it can — if the world finally listens to its largest demographic- the youth. That is why every communiqué we draft, every working-group chair we appoint, and every Leaders’ Declaration paragraph we negotiate must carry a footnote that reads simply: ‘Youth advised’,” the minister said. PTI FH SCY SCY