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Last year, world leaders marked the 70th anniversary of the United Nations by adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as Agenda 2030. We committed ourselves to an ambitious and transformative global development programme that seeks to address the triple challenge of this century, which is poverty, unemployment and inequality.To a great extent, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) played a critical role in galvanizing governments and communities all over the world to put in place programmes and policies aimed at poverty eradication and in addressing socio-economic development particularly in Africa.It is a well-known reality that our continent, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, did not achieve the targets that were set in the MDGs. It was for this reason that we insisted that the Sustainable Development Goals should continue the unfinished business of the MDGs. We have an interest, therefore, in ensuring the full implementation of the SDGs, as we take forward the agenda of promoting Africa’s sustainable development. We have made significant strides in the past couple of decades in reversing the impact of underdevelopment and the legacies of Colonialism and Apartheid in Africa. If the African Continent is to develop faster, we need to address certain constraints. This includes addressing: inadequate infrastructure; the high dependency on primary products; high exposure to commodity price volatility; limited investment in research and development, science, innovation and technology; low private sector investment; as well as the need to continue improving skills.To respond to some of these constraints, the Continent has embarked on a number of initiatives. These include the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, the Presidential Infrastructure Championing Initiative, the African Mining Vision, and the Programme for the Infrastructural Development of Africa. In South Africa we have put in place a National Development Plan which is aligned to AU Agenda 2063, as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals. At the core of our development plan is the focus on poverty eradication and the upliftment of the standard of living of our people. Our National Development Plan is also in line with the drive for industrialization of Africa. This will contribute to the eradication of poverty, reduce inequality and unemployment, and will also contribute positively to global growth and prosperity. It is, therefore, imperative that Africa and the Least Developed Countries, which were left behind in previous industrialisation processes, must not be excluded from the 4th or New Industrial Revolution.The successful implementation of Africa’s development plans depends on the availability of resources. We are, therefore, seriously concerned about the loss of resources of the continent through illicit financial flows. The Joint African Union and UN Economic Commission for Africa’s High-level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa estimates that illicit flows from Africa could be about 50 billion dollars per annum.Illicit financial flows deprive developing countries of JACOB ZUMA, PRESIDENT, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICAPROMOTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT034 THE G20 MEMBER COUNTRIES