The Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) is collaborating with the International Trade Centre (ITC) to host the first-ever Global Small- and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Ministerial meeting in July.

The meeting will convene Ministers from around the world, particularly those involved with small businesses, between July 22 and 24, in Johannesburg.

The theme of the inaugural event will be “navigating new business frontiers” which will focus on how SMEs can drive economic transformation in their countries through access to finance, digital connectivity and green transition processes.

These three areas will be key points of discussions for Ministers attending the meeting, which should set a roadmap to address the most pressing challenges faced by SMEs to operate, develop or scale up.

The Global SME Ministerial will include a business and innovation space where policymakers will also engage with private sector leaders to drive innovations by small businesses, boost networks between SMEs and potential investors and showcase success stories from different countries.

Under the umbrella of the SME Ministerial, the ITC will organise a leadership dialogue for the global network of trade promotion organisations, feeding into the Ministerial roundtables.

The ITC is a joint agency of the World Trade Organisation and the UN. The agency typically supports SMEs in developing economies to become more competitive in global markets.

Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams stresses the importance of platforms to foster global cooperation and collective action, where the world’s leading economies come together to discuss challenges and find solutions that drive sustainable growth, reduce inequality and promote shared prosperity.

ITC executive director Pamela Coke-Hamilton adds that the world needs a space where SME issues can be discussed at the highest levels, where roadmaps for collaborative action can be created, and where new opportunities open up.

SMEs, which account for about 90% of businesses worldwide, often drive tangible and lasting change from the ground up, including on global issues such as climate change, digital connectivity and women’s empowerment, Coke-Hamilton states.

With more skills and resources to act, SMEs can be drivers of sustainable and inclusive trade, not just beneficiaries, she emphasises.

The DSBD says by pivoting from commodity extraction to value addition, investing in diversification of products and markets and strengthening regional links to reduce dependency on a handful of countries, developing countries can take steps to stabilise the global trading system, at a time of uncertainty and instability.

The DSBD provides financial and non-financial support to SMEs and cooperatives in South Africa.