Speech by the City’s Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille, at the opening of the 2015 Mining Indaba in Cape Town
Your Excellencies,
Honourable Ministers,
Members of Parliament,
Captains of industry,
Honoured guests,
All protocol observed.
Good morning, goeie môre, molweni, as-salaam alaikum, shalom.
We are honoured to once again host the Investing in African Mining Indaba – not only the largest mining event in Africa, but also the world’s largest mining investment event.
We see the hosting of this event in Cape Town as an endorsement of our vision to become the events capital of Africa.
The local economy has experienced an injection of R552 million in revenue over the last eight years of hosting the Mining Indaba.
This is mostly generated from direct investments into accommodation and tourism activities.
We do hope that you will make the time to explore all the beauty that the city has to offer during your stay.
The Mining Indaba is not only a key driver in establishing Cape Town as the African events capital; it also creates many opportunities for our residents.
A total of 4 500 direct and indirect jobs have been created over the last eight years from 2006 to 2014.
Cape Town is increasingly being recognised as a valued investment destination.
In line with international trends, Cape Town is joining other mid-sized emerging cities as key drivers of economic growth globally.
And it is strategically positioned in Africa, home to some of the fastest growing economic regions in the world.
In January, Cape Town was named one of seven cities worldwide poised for significant growth in technology.
T3 Advisors and Brandeis International Business School conducted a study which identified seven locations worldwide that are emerging, up-and-coming hubs that technology and life sciences companies should consider as they evaluate their global location strategy.
We were listed in the company of cities like Chengdu in China, Istanbul in Turkey, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
The list was described as a ‘great cohort of cities representing the next frontier for emerging technology markets’.
The study concluded that ‘Cape Town stood out because of factors including favourable business climate, skilled talent in engineering, an emerging start-up culture, excellent infrastructure, quality institutions of higher education, and favourable rents in a global context’.
When people think ‘Cape Town’, they can now think of us not only as a tourist destination, but also as a unique investment destination with many competitive advantages in our region.
Other favourable factors include having the second busiest container port in South Africa, good public transport linkages to the city, and our strategic positioning on the west coast of Africa.
We have also set up a Trade and Investment Office in the City, situated within my office, to facilitate cutting the red tape which so often demotivates prospective investors.
We are committed to making Cape Town the gateway into Africa.
This creates opportunities for our residents, for the region, and also for the continent.
We are pursuing an Enhanced African Agenda as part of our Strategic External Relations Policy and we have committed ourselves to becoming a meeting point for East and West and an important connector with new markets in Africa.
We are only now starting to see the realisation of Africa’s potential.
And Cape Town is poised to play an important part in that story.
I would like to wish you a very warm welcome to our city.
I am confident that you will like what you see and I encourage you to make contact with my office if you have any questions about investing or starting a business here.
We are excited about the possibilities of partnering with the private sector, and believe that such partnerships are key drivers of progress.
By exploring mutually beneficial partnerships we can make progress possible, together.
I thank you.
Enquiries:
Pierrinne Leukes
Tel: 021 400 1302
Cell: 084 272 7614
E-mail: Pierrinne.leukes@capetown.gov.za
