Staff reporter
SOUTH Africa is sending a high-powered delegation to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos next week, with President Jacob Zuma scheduled to attend, along with several key ministers and business executives.
This year’s meeting presents South Africa with an opportunity to meet with leading investors and other global stakeholders, especially at a time when the country’s reputation is under scrutiny.
Although the country has made significant strides over the last 20 years of democracy, it continues to be beset with high unemployment, sluggish economic growth, and now Eskom’s power supply crisis.
A strained labour relations environment and sliding commodity prices are another headache. So any chance to convince the world about South Africa’s medium- to long-term plans is something that the government would seize in order to reassure investors.
Zuma will join more than 40 other heads of state and governments including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande and Turkish Premier Ahmet Davutoglu.
US Secretary of State John Kerry was also scheduled to attend, the World Economic Forum said in a statement yesterday as it unveiled the list of more than 2 500 participants.
New Context
The 45th World Economic Forum annual meeting runs from 21 to 24 January in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland under the theme – The New Global Context.
This context consists of 10 global challenges affecting the world today: environment and resource scarcity; employment skills and human capital; gender parity; long-term investing, infrastructure and development; food security and agriculture; international trade and investment; future of the internet; global crime and anti-corruption; social inclusion; and future of financial systems.
Current affairs, such as the escalating geopolitical conflicts, pandemics, diverging growth and the new energy context are on the agenda as well.
Registered participants from South Africa at this year’s Davos include: Brian Molefe, the group chief executive of Transnet, Patrice Motsepe, the founder and executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, Dr Iqbal Survé, the executive chairman of Independent Media (which publishes Business Report), Sim Tshabalala, the joint chief executive of Standard Bank Group, Maria Ramos, the chief executive of Barclays Africa Group, Nku Nyembezi-Heita, chairwoman designate of the JSE, Sipho Maseko, the group chief executive of Telkom, Mike Brown, the chief executive of Nedbank Group and Brand SA chairwoman Charlotte Maponya.
The government delegation includes Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe and Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramathlodi. Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago will also attend.
Independent Newspapers will be represented at Davos by Ellis Mnyandu (@Ellis_Mnyandu), Business Report editor and group executive: Independent Business Media, and by Karima Brown (@KarimaBrown), Independent Media’s chief content officer. Readers can can follow them on Twitter for live Tweets and insights from the meeting as well as via Business Report’s Twitter node @busrep and online at www.busrep.co.za.