Finance ministers and business leaders from around the world are gathering in Cape Town for the Business 20 (B20) meeting that starts tomorrow, one of the first major events of South Africa’s G20 presidency.
The B20 meeting will feature a who’s who of business leaders from companies such as Toyota, Sanlam, Standard Bank and Naspers, along with representatives of international finance institutions.
Business Unity South Africa CEO Cas Coovadia said eight task forces set up by the B20 would discuss a set of business priorities for the G20 and be “the engines for policy discussions”. Their output would be communicated to President Cyril Ramaphosa for consideration by the G20 countries before the main summit in November.
“The launch is the start of a robust year of engagements and planning,” Coovadia said. About 200 senior business representatives from the G20 countries and the continent are on the task forces.
Western Cape premier Alan Winde told Business Times: “With the G20 and the B20, we’ve got big things happening in South Africa ... A lot more investment [is] coming into the region.”
Keynote addresses will be delivered on Tuesday by:
- Børge Brende, president and CEO of the World Economic Forum;
- Susan Lund, vice-president of economics at the International Finance Corporation; and
- Strive Masiyiwa, the Zimbabwe-born founder of the Econet Group.
Panel discussions on Tuesday include:
- “Mobilising B20 South Africa objectives through task forces”, featuring Toyota South Africa CEO Andrew Kirby, Nedbank chair Daniel Mminele, Sanlam CEO Paul Hanratty, and Naspers South Africa CEO Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa; and
- “The G20 in 2025, international organisations and the impact on business”, featuring Parks Tau, the minister of trade, industry & competition, Ahunna Eziakonwa, an assistant secretary-general of the UN and the head of the UN Development Programme in Africa, and John Denton, secretary-general of the International Chamber of Commerce.
At the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Johannesburg this week, Norwegian foreign minister Espen Barth Eide backed South Africa against the attacks on it earlier this month by US President Donald Trump and his ministers.
If we all started in the morning agreeing on everything, why would we meet?
— Espen Barth Eide, Norwegian foreign minister
Eide said Oslo did not share Trump’s views on the Expropriation Act, which Washington has interpreted as “land grabs” from white farmers.
“We have read the explanations the government has given and we find them credible and we do not come to the same conclusion as the US,” he said.
The Norwegian minister, speaking after news that US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent was boycotting the G20 finance ministers meeting, which starts on Wednesday, said the US was taking the wrong approach.
Bessent became the second US cabinet member to snub the meetings following secretary of state Marco Rubio’s announcement that he would stay away. Rubio said South Africa was “doing very bad things” and the US objected to the G20 theme of “solidarity, equality and sustainability”.
“I think it’s very unfortunate that Rubio is not here,” Eide said.
“He will miss a good meeting, all his colleagues are here and my view is that coming to a meeting does not mean endorsement of what everybody else thinks. We have meetings also because we disagree. If we all started in the morning agreeing on everything, why would we meet?
“So I think that’s unfortunate,” he said. “I’m happy that almost all my colleagues are here on ministerial level, which is a strong tribute to the South African presidency.”
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