Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue “From G20 to BRICS: Civil Society Engagement and Government Perspectives” – 14 Sept 2017

In 2018 South Africa will host the 10th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit. The South African foreign affairs ministry together with the official civil society lead organisation in South Africa, Economic Justice Network (EJN), are currently consolidating their plans for the civil society forum in the summit.

With a special interest in addressing inequality and looking forward to 2018, the objective of this public dialogue was to unpack engagement in multilateral fora, in particular G20 and BRICS.

Speakers included the South African Sherpa for the G20 and BRICS, Ambassador Anil Sooklal, who spoke on government perspectives on the G20 and BRICS; as well as a representative from the German Embassy, who shared the German experience of hosting the G20, outcomes, lessons and opportunities around the G20 for addressing inequality. Other speakers reflected on civil society engagement with multilateral processes, past, present and future.

Participants included members of the diplomatic corps, civil society organisations and think tanks based in South Africa, government officials, youth and ordinary members of the public.