The BDI spearheaded the German B7 presidency in 2022 in close collaboration with the BDA and DIHK. The B7 has the role to consolidate the interests of the business community of the G7 countries and to develop concrete and actionable recommendations.

The G7 promotes close cooperation among the leading industrialized countries. Although the G20 is also vital to multilateral cooperation, the G7 will remain an important format for shaping globalization and solving pressing global challenges as its members share many values such as belief in pluralistic democracies, the rule of law, and freedom.

The role of the Business 7 (B7) is to consolidate the interests of the business community of the G7 countries and develop concrete and actionable recommendations. In performing that role, the B7 supports the G7 in effectively addressing global economic challenges. BDI represents German industry in the B7 and holds the presidency in 2022.

The Group of Twenty (G20), the alliance of 19 leading industrialized and emerging economies and the European Union, has become a central forum in global governance. In order to properly fulfill its mandate of promoting strong, balanced and sustainable growth, the G20 relies on the expertise of the business community, provided by the Business Twenty (B20).

Times like these, more than ever, require global solutions for global challenges. The international business community (Business20, Global Business Coalition, ICC and Business at OECD), as well as the G7 and G20, have swiftly agreed upon joint statements and initiatives in response to the coronavirus. The Global Business Coalition (GBC) put forward a set of recommendations on stabilizing global trade and supply chains.

The consensus for open, rules-based world markets is eroding; international organisations like the WTO are under fire. That’s why it is all the more important that business has a strong voice, according to foreign economic policy expert Stormy-Annika Mildner. She emphasizes that the role of the Business 20 (B20) is more important today than ever.

More than 700 representatives from business and enterprises engaged in B20 Germany handed over their policy recommendations to the G20 in May 2017. The G20 were particularly responsive to the B20 recommendations on financing growth and infrastructure; energy, climate and resource efficiency, and education and employment. However, health, SMEs and particularly international trade were insufficiently reflected in the G20 Leaders’ Declaration.

A well-functioning global economy requires a steady coordination of economic and monetary measures between states. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) serves this purpose. The Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (Business at the OECD) provides the business federations of the OECD member states – for example, Germany’s BDI – with an official and transparent channel through which they can share their expertise with the OECD.

Enabling sustainable economic growth, promoting jobs, strengthening international trade: governments face a multitude of challenges in an increasingly complex and interconnected world economy that cannot be resolved by policymakers alone. Rather, they depend on the expertise of the business community. The Global Business Coalition (GBC), which brings together leading business federations from around the world, is a strong and reliable partner in global economic governance.