South African business people will get an opportunity to be exposed to the South American market by participating in the Investment and Trade Initiative (ITI) to be held in Brazil from 21 - 25 October 2013.
The ITI is part of the Department of Trade and Industry's (the dti) Export and Investment Promotion Strategy that focuses on targeted high growth markets with the objective of creating investment and export opportunities for South African companies and of promoting South Africa as a trade and investment destination.
The main focus of this initiative will be on agro-processing and mining where business people will get an opportunity to meet their Brazilian counterparts. The delegation will engage on possible business collaborations and export opportunities and also visit the different areas of operations to learn how the Brazilians do business.
The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Elizabeth Thabethe says the initiative will contribute positively to further expose trade opportunities available for South African businesses to tap on in Brazil and further learn best practices that can assist them to enhance their businesses locally.
“The strategic relationship between Brazil and South Africa which flows out of our participation in India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) and BRICS, is also reflected in the bilateral trade relationship that the two countries have. We hope that this ITI will further assist in promoting trade and strengthening the economies of the two countries especially since Brazil has consistently been South Africa’s largest trading partner in Latin America for the past five years,” she adds.
Brazil’s economy is among the best performing in the world with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms amounting to US$2.284 trillion, making it the 8th largest economy in the world and the second largest in the Americas after USA in 2012.
South Africa’s exports to Brazil have been increasing at a lower rate compared to the imports from Brazil that have consistently accounted for more than 66% of the total bilateral trade.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe
Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 079 492 1774
Tel: 012 394 1650
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Twitter: @the_dti
