Davos a chance for SA to fly the G20 flag and promote Africa's agenda

This year's annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos takes place this week during what is, by all accounts, the most complex and chaotic period in global economic and political affairs. The theme for this year is "Collaboration for the Intelligent Age". This is a very appropriate theme, aimed at addressing the increasing polarisation and fragmentation at play in geopolitics and geoeconomics. This year's WEF seeks to find ways to avoid what it calls the "Age of Fragmentation" and reinvent the "muscle of collaborative innovation to get out of the current low-growth, high-debt world economy and address common challenges, from climate change to the ethical use of Al".

For South Africa, as the current chair of the G20 group of the world's most powerful economies, Davos 2025 presents a golden opportunity to showcase its readiness to host the G20 summit later this year. G20 members account for 85% of the global economy, 75% of global trade flows and two-thirds of the world population.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will take the stage and share his vision for the G20 and emphasise the critical importance of "solidarity, equality and sustainability" as South Africa's chosen theme for its G20 presidency.

The Davos annual meeting has come to be viewed as a highlight in the global calendar as it attempts to set the agenda for the world to follow this year.

In addition to flying the G20 flag, Team South Africa can and must highlight how the G20 summit will be leveraged to benefit Africa as a whole. This will be the first time for an African country to host the G20 summit which, I strongly believe, can and must be used to spotlight South Africa's and Africa's global competitiveness to foreign and local investors.

About 3,000 participants from 130 countries representing participants from business (about 1,600 private sector participants), government (about 60 heads of state and government) and civil society will converge to exchange views and perspectives on the most pressing and topical geopolitical and geoeconomic challenges of our time.

Geopolitics will, as was the case last year, take centre stage as the war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East rage on. This week's agreement by Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire that will result in the release of 33 hostages and Palestinian prisoners starting today, will be one of the major Davos talking points.

This is a step in the right direction. Global peace and stability are public goods in short supply. A new brand of global leadership that champions global peace and justice in ways that unify and reconcile differences is required.

If Davos is to succeed in its mission of making the world a better place for all, it must be deliberate and intentional in being a platform where global solutions to global problems and regional solutions to regional problems are crafted with credible implementation mechanisms.

The start of this year's Davos is on the same day as the inauguration of Donald Trump for his second term in the White House. Trump is expected to address the WEF meeting virtually on Thursday, and all eyes and ears will be on his speech in the aftermath of his inauguration.

This is a very smart move by Trump to position and assert himself as a leader of the free world. Davos is a strategic space to shape global public opinion and win the hearts and minds of global opinion leaders. Leaders from China, Ukraine, Israel, Palestine and the EU will take center stage. The looming trade war between Beijing and Washington and rising tensions between the West and Brics Plus are some of the major forces at play in geopolitics and geoeconomics that Davos has to contend with.

From a geoeconomics perspective, the world economy is in bad shape with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projecting global economic growth at 3.2% and developed economies' growth expected to be at a sluggish 1.8%. Africa is projected to grow at 4.2%, while South Africa's growth projection is at 1.7%.

Unemployment, poverty and the rising cost of living continue to pose challenges to social and political stability. with protests by dissatisfied citizens on the rise. The year of elections (2024), which saw about 50% of the world population going to the polls, has resulted in most sitting governments either being dethroned (UK, US, Botswana) or weakened and forced into coalition arrangements of one form or another (France, India, South Africa).

Global debt is at its highest since World War 2, which has resulted in rising debt service obligations diverting scarce financial resources away from development in Africa and other lower-income economies. Global supply chains and trade flows are in flux with increasing protectionism, deglobalisation, polarisation and fragmentation.

These are worrying developments. Trends and concepts like onshoring, nearshoring and friendshoring have gained popularity in global industrial policy and trade discourse. South Africa can and must leverage the Davos meeting to drive its national economic agenda and geostrategic interests and priorities. But how?

First, this is the first global opportunity for Pretoria to present its government of national unity (GNU) to global economic and political decision-makers and role players. The fact that the GNU works in a largely cohesive and effective way inspires trust and confidence among international and local investors as well as multilateral agencies. The GNU needs to demonstrate a tangible sense of common purpose and commitment to good governance, growth, job creation, anti-corruption and law and order.

Second, Davos presents an opportunity for Team South Africa to update the world on the good progress made on structural reforms to improve energy security, freight and logistics and address crime and corruption. Commendable progress has been made in fixing the country's electricity system and in deregulating the ports and rail sector by announcing plans to bring in private sector investment.

The impressive 2024 matric results released recently reflect good progress in fixing our education system, which needs to be deepened further to ensure South Africa produces world-class, talented workers of the future. However, more work is urgently required to fix the country's water infrastructure, which is in a state of crisis in some parts of the country, and address concerning levels of crime in some of our communities.

Third, Davos is an opportunity for South Africa to drum up support for foreign investors i manufacturing, the digital economy, the green economy, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semi-conductors. However, to successfully win in these industries of the future requires enabling policies and regulations that are attractive to foreign and local investors alike.

South Africa is well positioned to be a leading and winning global player in the industries of the future, provided we are prepared to do what it takes.

* Dlamini is chair of Alexander Forbes and Aspen Pharmacare Holdings and president of the American Chamber of Commerce in SA. He writes in his personal capacity