Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
I wish to thank everyone concerned for the arrangements this evening which enable me to brief members of Keidanren on South Africa’s viability as a trade partner and investment destination for Japan.
South Africa entered into a democratic era on 27 April 1994 after our historic first national elections.
Today we are a constitutional democracy under the rule of law.
We have many positive stories to mark our progress over the past two decades. However, we face many socio-economic challenges which are the legacy of our apartheid history and which have a direct bearing on poverty, unemployment and inequality.
We are however happy with the progress we have made in extending basic services to people who had been denied these before.
Thousands of our people today have water, electricity or housing which they did not have before the dawn of freedom in 1994.
We have made progress due to the hard work of our people and also through working with key development partners around the world, such as Japan.
Official relations between South Africa and Japan go back more than 100 years, and throughout these years, Japan has been part of our economic growth and development.
We are here in Japan to take further such cooperation that will help us to develop our economy further.
Japanese companies have made large investments in South Africa. The South African economy is therefore not foreign to Japanese companies.
One hundred and twelve Japanese companies provide job opportunities to approximately 200,000 South Africans. They also provide training and development to their employees.
South Africa is particularly appreciative of Toyota’s announcement that 50 percent of all Hi-Ace vehicles utilised in South Africa will be constructed and assembled inside the country.
Nissan Motor Corporation also recently announced that it will re-launch the Datsun brand of motor vehicles in South Africa in 2014.
South Africa welcomes the role played by Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Hitachi and others in the provision of job opportunities and skills development.
I wish to thank all Japanese companies for their presence in the South African economy, and I wish to request that they increase their footprint in our economy.
Many companies are in our country because of a number of attractions.
South Africa has the largest economy on the African continent, accounting for approximately 25 percent of GDP.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange Securities Exchange is the largest in Africa and the most developed Securities Exchange and one of the world’s top 20 exchanges.
Our financial institutions are highly developed and are efficiently run, which augurs well for running business.
At a broader level, South Africa is located in a region that the next “big story” in economic development terms, given how successful our continent has been over the past 10 years.
Most importantly, we are a young democracy and a young nation that has a bright future.
We are in the process of building our country and have an opportunity to create new institutions and new ways of doing things.
The plans we are putting in place will yield results. We are determined to succeed in building a united, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa.
Other than our highly developed business infrastructure, South Africa has a well-developed industrial relations framework and laws governing relations between employers and employees.
Our Constitution guarantees the rights of both workers and employers and as government we play our role in promoting adherence to the law and collective bargaining processes in the workplace.
It is currently the collective bargaining season back home in South Africa.
We have appealed to employers and employees to ensure that these annual wage and working conditions negotiations are concluded without delay and with as less acrimony as possible without disrupting production, especially during this difficult economic global climate.
Distinguished guests,
A key development in our country has been the production and adoption of the National Development Plan, our high level blueprint for tackling poverty and inequality.
The National Development Plan aims to treble the size of the economy so that by 2030, 11 million more work opportunities are created. It is an ambitious plan which encourages all of us to work together to take our country forward.
The process has begun to align Government programmes and plans with the National Development Plan with an emphasis on implementation.
Within this broader roadmap, the NDP is our Industrial Policy Action Plan which focuses on growing our manufacturing base and the size of our economy.
We have done this because we have positioned our country as a manufacturing centre of excellence, with our sights on exploring new sectors such as the green economy and energy-saving industries.
At a general level, we invite investments in our six key sectors;
- Infrastructure development, Agriculture,
- Mining and beneficiation, Manufacturing,
- The green economy
- Tourism.
We urge you to explore opportunities in these sectors. We will provide as much support as possible.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
We look forward to receiving you in South Africa soon, as businesspeople and as tourists!
I thank you.
