The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) is undertaking a major consultative process on a national export strategy. The provincial workshops start in Durban on Monday, 11 February 2013 and will culminate in a national workshop in Gauteng next month.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies explained that the stakeholder engagement process is a very important initiative aimed at soliciting views, opinions and strategic inputs from the various role-players. These workshops will also allow provincial government structures to share export plans, programmes and strategies, and should result in a synergised national export approach for the country.
"In essence" Minister Davies added, "a national export strategy looks into the competitiveness and development of a country’s export sector and identifies priorities for enhanced export performance."
Referring to the background to this new initiative, Minister Davies said: "A key strategic objective of this department is to build mutually beneficial regional and global relations to advance South Africa’s trade, industrial policy and economic development objectives. We are also mandated to grow the country’s export base by increasing the number of exporters and assisting companies to increase exports of locally manufactured products and services, amongst others.
The need to review and develop a streamlined approach to export development and promotion in line with global best practice and the country’s latest economic policy developments such as Industrial Policy Action Plan, New Growth Path, the National Development Plan and the current national export strategy, developed in 2005, must be reviewed and updated in line with these recent policy developments."
The review of the national export strategy will focus on the whole of South Africa, considering both the private and public sectors, including State-Owned Entities. It will include all the work done by the various national and provincial government departments and their agencies.
Enquiries:
Bongani Lukhele, Acting Chief Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 012 394 1643
Cell: 079 5083 457
E-mail: Blukhele@thedti.gov.za
