The lecture, “Africa in the G20: Multilateralism in a Shifting Global Order,” will be held on 21 November 2025 at the Great Hall, University of the Witwatersrand.

Hosted by the African Centre for the Study of the United States (ACSUS) at the University of the Witwatersrand, the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, and multiple partners, this lecture marks the official opening of the Amplifying African Voices for Strategic Action (AFSA) Conference 2025. It serves as an intellectual prelude to a week of critical dialogue and collaboration leading up to the main conference from 25–27 November 2025.

In his address, Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs will examine Africa’s growing engagement within the G20 and its role in strengthening multilateral cooperation amid shifting global dynamics. His talk will include the following issues:

• Implications of South Africa and Africa hosting the first G20 Summit.
• Shifting global order, multilateralism versus unilateralism, and the role of the United Nations.
• Global South–Global North debates.
• The handover of the G20 presidency from South Africa to the United States.
• Perspectives on South Africa’s stand on the Israel war in Gaza, and the Palestinian nationhood question.

Sachs serves as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he holds the rank of University Professor, the university’s highest academic rank. Sachs was Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2002 to 2016. He is President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Co-Chair of the Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition, academician of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican, Commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development, Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Honorary Distinguished Professor at Sunway University, and SDG Advocate for UN Secretary General António Guterres. From 2001-18, Sachs served as Special Advisor to UN Secretaries-General Kofi Annan (2001-7), Ban Ki-moon (2008-16), and António Guterres (2017-18).  

Sachs has authored and edited numerous books, including three New York Times bestsellers: The End of Poverty (2005), Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (2008), and The Price of Civilization (2011). Other books include To Move the World: JFK’s Quest for Peace (2013), The Age of Sustainable Development (2015), Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair & Sustainable (2017), A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism (2018), The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions (2020), and most recently, Ethics in Action for Sustainable Development (2022).