Deputy Minister Botes closing remarks during the G20 Multistakeholder dialogue on illicit financial flows

The Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Mr Alvin Botes, deliver remarks during a G20 Multi-stakeholder Dialogue on Illicit Financial Flows, Domestic Resource Mobilisation and Financing for Development on Friday, 30 May 2025, at SNG Grant Thornton, Midrand. The dialogue serves as a precursor to the T20 Midterm Conference in June and the G20 Leaders’ Summit in November 2025. The dialogue is hosted by SNG Grant Thornton and the Institute of Global Dialogue. The multi-stakeholder engagement will involve key participants including representatives of the Government of South Africa, the United Nations, the Institute for Global Dialogue, SNG Grant Thornton, representatives of foreign diplomatic missions, business leaders, researchers as well as students and learners who will engage on and make policy recommendations to the G20 and T20. The participants will explore how Africa, including South Africa, is losing billions of dollars every year through illicit financial flows (IFFs), such as money from corruption, smuggling and tax evasion. These losses make it hard for African countries to collect taxes, invest in development and reduce inequality. The growing digital economy is making it even harder to track and tax financial flows. The discussion will focus on how to curb IFFs using the latest tools and global cooperation, like the automatic exchange of tax information. With the global economy slowing down, aid shrinking and the climate crisis worsening, it is getting harder to find money for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In anticipation of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) to be held from 30 June to 3 July 2025 in Spain, participants will discuss how to better use local resources, push for reforms in global financial systems and find new ways to fund sustainable development.