Lesedi Sibiya – Diplomatic Inside

The Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Alvin Botes, is set to deliver statements at the G20 Multi-Stakeholder dialogue on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) at the SNG Grant Thornton in Midrand today. The discussion will also include dialogue about Domestic Resource Mobilisation and Financing for Development.

This will serve as a prelude to the T20 MidTerm Conference in June and the G20 Summit in November this year. The meeting will have South African government officials, the United Nations, The institute for Global Dialogue, SNG Grant Thornton, representatives of Foreign diplomatic missions, business leaders, researchers and students will be in attendance to suggest certain policy recommendations to the T20 and G20. The participants of this discussion will focus mainly on how Africa is losing billions of dollars every year by way of Illicit Financial Flows due to money gained by means of corruption, smuggling and tax evasion. These billion dollar losses have made it significantly difficult for African countries to collect taxes, invest in development and combat economic inequality. As the digital economy continues to grow, it makes it difficult to track and tax financial flows.

The purposes of this dialogue will be finding means in which to combat these IFFs by using strategies such as automatic exchange of tax information. This dialogue is also pertinent because of the dwindling climate crises which is worsening, shrinkage of aid and the slowing down of the global economy. Because of all these different setbacks it has proven difficult for the UN to raise money for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This also comes at the anticipated 4th International Conference on Financing for Development on 30 June-3 July 2025 which will be held in Spain this year. The discussion will also tackle how to better utilize local resources, finding strong ways to fund sustainable growth and press for solutions to reform Global financial systems.

Among the participants of this discussion will be, Executive Director of  Institute for Global Dialogue- Dr Philani Mthembu, CEO of SNG Grant Thornton-Victor Sekese, Ambassador of Spain- Jose Manuel Pascual Garcia and Representative of the United Nations in South Africa- Ms Jane Marie Ongolo. Panelists will include Global Tax Leader of SNG Grant Thornton International- Mr Vikas Vasal, Tax practitioner and former SARS executive-Mr Johann Van Loggerenberg, Senior Researcher and Project Manager of Institute for Global Dialogue- Dr Arina Muresan and Researcher at Institute for Global Dialogue and fellow at the Pan African Thought and Conversation from University of Johannesburg- Mr Mikatekiso Kubayi.