The involvement of the US government “at a high level” is important, Cas Coovadia, sherpa of the business segment of the G20, told journalists on Wednesday.
Coovadia was responding to a question at a B20 virtual round table about the significance of US President Donald Trump’s attendance at the G20 leaders’ summit in SA, scheduled for November.
On Tuesday, Trump said he might send someone else to represent the US at the summit.
Reuters reported Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One: “I think maybe I’ll send somebody else because I’ve had a lot of problems with SA. They have some very bad policies.”
Scott Bessent, US treasury secretary, was absent from the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Durban earlier this month, while secretary of state Marco Rubio did not attend a prior G20 foreign ministers’ gathering in Johannesburg.
“We are clear that we need to collaborate to grow inclusive economies and address the challenges that the world has,” Coovadia said, adding that “businesses in America are quite clear that the B20 is important; that the G20 is important”.
“America caters for about 15% of global trade. The B20 is working to make sure that the other 85% collaborates and works together and we would hope that the US joins that effort, and we would certainly encourage President Trump to be present at the G20 summit,” he said.
“Certainly, from a B20 point of view, we think the involvement of the American government at a high level is important.”
Coovadia said they had just passed the halfway mark in the B20’s agenda. He said the task forces were working to deliver “evidence-based solutions” and to track their implementation to assess progress.
“The need for inclusive economic development is urgent, and that can only happen through inclusive economic growth. We were absolutely deliberate in having co-operation as part of our theme, because of the situation the world is in. It’s fragmenting. Countries are becoming protectionist and there’s a move against multilateralism. We are absolutely clear that a fragmented and polarised world is not fit for purpose, to actually address the challenges that the globe has.”
Debra Mallowah, head of Africa at Bayer Crop Science and chair of the B20 SA sustainable food systems & agriculture task force, delivered a stark warning: “Global food systems are under strain and the clock is ticking.
“By 2030, just five years from now, the world will need 80-million additional hectares of cropland to feed a growing population, and nearly 70% of this will be in Africa and Latin America,” she said. “So the question isn’t just how we grow more food, it is how we do it sustainably, and that is where Africa enters the story — not just as a continent under pressure, but one full of possibility.”
She emphasised the urgent need for co-ordinated, systemic action to prevent deeper hunger and economic instability, declaring that “food systems must be treated as critical infrastructure, not just for development, but for global stability”.
Andrew Kirby, Toyota SA CEO and chair of the B20 SA industrial transformation & innovation task force, said they were examining how industries could accelerate progressive industrialisation through innovation and sustainable technologies.
Kirby noted that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the IMF were forecasting a global economic slowdown to 2.9% in 2025/26 — below the prepandemic levels of 3.2% — “driven by rising trade barriers, policy uncertainty and geopolitical tensions”.
“The slowdown could mean that there’ll be a significant delay in investments from manufacturers in machinery, technology and capacity, especially for those that are export-driven firms. Emerging markets are also facing added challenges such as high interest rates, rising debt, limited access to affordable capital, and these challenges are undermining job creation, productivity and long-term growth,” he said.
“That’s why industrialisation transformation becomes such a crucial focus area. Manufacturing growth is strongly linked to rising GDP per capita levels.”
He said that while SA had built strong industrial capabilities, productivity and competitiveness “have been eroded”.
The task force’s key focus areas are:
- Enabling and renewing industrial growth through strategy and innovation.
- Broadening and deepening value chain capabilities.
- Accelerating sustainable industry transformation and technology adoption.
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