South African business leaders will attend the B20 gathering in Washington from 9 to 11 November, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) said. Busa chief executive Khulekani Mathe said the aim is to strengthen business ties between South Africa and the United States.
The B20 is the business group linked to the G20. Mathe said the US business community invited South African companies to join the rest of the G20 business community in Washington.
“It was never an issue in terms of being invited or not invited on the side of the business community,” Mathe told Moneyweb’s SAfm Market Update.
He said South African business has always had a very positive relationship with American companies. US business leaders attended the B20 when South Africa hosted it last year.
Mathe did not agree that business ties between the two countries are stronger than ever. “Perhaps to say ‘stronger than ever’ would be pushing it a bit,” he said.
He said Busa has always taken the view that the two economies need each other. He said the delegation will look at how to strengthen and grow business relations between South Africa and the US.
Earlier in the year there were concerns about whether South African delegates would get US visas. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had also raised concerns about South Africa.
Mathe said granting visas is the choice of the US government. He said Busa has not received any sign that members of the delegation will be refused visas.
“We operate on the basis that many people, to start with, have long-term visas to the United States, and that nothing has changed in those visa rights,” he said.
Mathe said the US has run a much smaller B20 than South Africa did. South Africa had eight task forces that made policy recommendations to its government. He said the US used half that number.
He said there was not much input from South African business before the Washington summit. This was because of the way the US organisers chose to run the process.
“So we’re going in there perhaps in a slightly different position from many of the delegates who came to our shores around this time last year,” Mathe said.
He said Busa still sees the B20 as an important place to discuss business issues that affect all countries.
Busa plans to study reports from its US counterparts and carry the work into the next presidency, which will be held by the United Kingdom. Mathe said Busa has already been in touch with business groups in the UK.
“We should not drop the ball. We must make sure that issues that affect business remain at the table,” he said.
Source: this article is based on reporting by Moneyweb. Image: Moneyweb. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.