Sadiq S BhatUnited Nations — Global fault lines were on full display as the G20 Foreign Ministers gathered under South Africa’s presidency on the sidelines of the 80th General Assembly.
The room, charged with the symbolism of the UN’s 80th anniversary, became a stage where visions of peace, solidarity, and financial justice clashed with warnings about political overreach.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres set the tone. "Unsustainable debt is trapping nations and mortgaging their future," he warned, calling attention to what he described as a crisis spiralling across continents.
His voice sharpened as he juxtaposed spending priorities. "Global military spending soared to $2.7 trillion last year, nearly 13 times all official development aid," he said. "The UN's regular budget, 750 times smaller, is a rounding error."
The message was blunt. "Peace is not a dividend of development. It is its foundation and highest-return investment," he said. "Financial justice is not an aspiration. It is a requirement for global stability."
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, chairing under the banner of "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability," carried that momentum forward. "Without peace, there can be no sustainable development," he said.
Ramaphosa placed Africa's challenges at the centre of the G20 debate. "More than 85% of the sustainable development goals are currently off-track," he said. "The setbacks are particularly acute in fighting hunger, extreme poverty, and rising inequality."
US draws a line
However, Washington struck a different chord. Speaking for the United States, its representative Allison Hooker, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, dismissed what she saw as a drift in the G20's agenda.
"As President Trump said just this week, the United Nations has such tremendous potential, but it has not even come close to living up to that potential," she said. "One reason is that these institutions have drifted far from their original mandates. We no longer focus on what we set out to accomplish."
The critique was sharp. "Too often, the G20’s agenda has expanded into areas well beyond its core limit. Instead of elevating urgent global economic matters, the G20 has come to debate every political wedge issue of the day," Hooker reiterated.
"Expanding the G20's scope in this way does not strengthen the forum. It dilutes it."
Looking ahead to the US presidency of the G20 next year, Washington promised a reset. "First, we will re-center the G20 on its core economic mission. We will not spend hours debating gender-responsive budgeting or pandemic surveillance. Second, we will streamline the G20's processes. We will reduce the proliferation of working groups, cut back on bureaucratic excess, and sharpen our lines of effort. Third, we will focus on outcomes. Empty words don’t solve war, nor do they put food on people’s tables."
"Delivering growth, stability, prosperity"
That stark contrast to Guterres and Ramaphosa underscored the tensions. While the UN chief called for "diplomacy, mediation, and inclusive governance" and Ramaphosa pressed for “solidarity, equality, sustainability,” the US returned the forum to what it called "first principles."
The meeting witnessed a large participation by G20 foreign ministers, reflecting the weight of the agenda on peace and global governance.
For Guterres, the threat was existential. "When violence erupts, capital flees, services collapse, and poverty increases,” he said. "Financial justice is not an aspiration. It is a requirement."
As for Washington, the forum risks collapse unless it shapes up. "The goal is simple: to make our time together more efficient and more closely aligned with the forum’s founding campaign,” the US representative said.
"Together, we can deliver growth, stability, and prosperity for our nations and for the world."
