South Africa's National Treasury published opening remarks by Director-General Dr Duncan Pieterse for the first day of the fourth G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies meeting in Zimbali, KwaZulu-Natal. The remarks framed the meetings around global economic uncertainty and South Africa’s G20 Presidency priorities, including strengthening the international financial architecture, enhancing debt sustainability, addressing liquidity challenges, strengthening multilateral development banks (MDBs), and advancing financing for development. The two-day agenda includes an update from the Council of Europe Development Bank on its monitoring and reporting framework to support implementation of the G20 MDB roadmap, and a World Bank-facilitated simulation exercise on coordinated pandemic response financing. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank are scheduled to provide an update on the global sovereign debt roundtable, with progress referenced including publication of a playbook on sovereign debt restructurings at the April Spring Meetings and a G20 note on the steps of debt restructuring under the common framework. Deputies will also receive an update from the Africa Expert Panel, led by former South African finance minister Trevor Manuel, alongside sessions focused on drafting the Finance Track communiqué. Communiqué drafting is intended to consolidate areas of agreement and support Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in issuing the first communiqué under South Africa’s G20 Presidency.