President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on the international community to support the rollout of a comprehensive stimulus package for African countries.<\/p>\n
Addressing a virtual sitting of the 75th United Nations General Assembly debate on Tuesday, President Ramaphosa, who is also the Chairperson of the African Union (AU), said the stimulus package will enable African countries to mitigate the health impacts of COVID-19 and aid the continent in the immense task of rebuilding its shattered economies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres delivered the 18th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in July 2020, he called on the nations of the world to forge a New Social Contract and a New Global Deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said we must create equal opportunities for all, that we must advance a more inclusive and balanced multilateral trading system, that debt architecture must be reformed, and that there should be greater access to affordable credit for developing countries. It is a call we, as South Africa, wholly endorse,\u201d said the President.<\/p>\n
To ensure that no country is left behind, the President reiterated the AU\u2019s position that economic sanctions against Zimbabwe and Sudan should be lifted to allow their governments to respond adequately to the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Expanding economic opportunities President Ramaphosa said the pandemic has highlighted the urgency with which global leaders must strive to meet all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially Goal 1, which is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil we eradicate global poverty, we will always fall short of realising the vision of the founders of the United Nations (UN). We must expand economic opportunities to all people around the world, but most especially to the young, to women and to vulnerable people.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must boldly pursue avenues of redistribution and redress as a means of advancing shared prosperity. We must deal decisively with the rot of corruption that is robbing our people of the opportunities and services that are their right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Action against racism<\/strong><\/p>\n The President further called on the UN to spare no effort to end prejudice and intolerance in all its forms and wherever they may be found.<\/p>\n He said the year 2020 will be remembered for the massive groundswell to push back the frontiers of racism under the umbrella of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a country that has known too well the anguish of institutionalised racism, South Africa supports the demands for swift action against racism, whether committed by individuals, companies, officials or a state.\u201d<\/p>\n Empowering women and girls<\/strong><\/p>\n The President emphasised the need to intensify efforts to empower women and girls as the world marks the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the right of women and girls to be full and equal participants in the workplace, in political life and decision-making, in the economy, in obtaining an education and in society as a whole. South Africa is proud to be a member of the UN\u2019s Generation Equality campaign and has prioritised the eradication of gender-based violence and femicide.<\/p>\n \u201cAt a continental level, we are working to finalise and adopt an AU Convention on Violence against Women during the course of this year. AU member States are engaging on measures to promote financial inclusion, preferential procurement and preferential trade agreements for women,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n Security Council Meanwhile, President Ramaphosa reiterated the call for greater representation of African countries on the Security Council, saying this should be taken up with urgency at intergovernmental negotiations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is only through a reformed and inclusive UN Security Council that we will be able to collectively resolve some of the world\u2019s most protracted conflicts.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we celebrate the founding of an organisation dedicated to freedom and equality, the people of Palestine and Western Sahara continue to live under occupation. We repeat our call for an end to the illegal occupation of Western Sahara and for the Palestinian people\u2019s right to self-determination.\u201d<\/p>\n He further called for the lifting of the economic embargo and blockade of Cuba. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on the international community to support the rollout of a comprehensive stimulus package for African countries. Addressing a virtual sitting of the 75th United Nations General Assembly debate on Tuesday, President Ramaphosa, who is also the Chairperson of the African Union (AU), said the stimulus package will enable African countries to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-166500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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