The Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane encouraged South African business people to take advantage of trade and investment opportunities offered by India to increase the market penetration for South African products in the world's largest democracy.
Nkoana-Mashabane was delivering a keynote address at the second "Doing Business with India" Conference that took place at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, today. The theme of conference, which was hosted by Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), in partnership with the Indian Consulate in South Africa, was "Building partnerships when the chips are down."
"The bilateral trade between South Africa and India has continued to grow since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries after South Africa's democratisation. Many opportunities exist for expanding this commercial relationship. Currently, India is South Africa's largest trading partner in the East and South Asia, and is one of South Africa's top 10 trading partners globally.
The South Africa business community needs to work harder towards further exploring and exploiting export opportunities and increasing market penetration for the South African products. They also need to properly take advantage of India's massive market of 1,1 billion people, as well as the impressive on-going economy growth that even defies the pressures of the current global recession," said Nkoana-Mashabane, who described India as an "engine for global economic growth".
She added that the purchasing power of the Indian middle class of over three million citizens, and an ambitious R475 billion infrastructure development programme to be rolled out in the near future, were making India an attractive option for global exporters and investors alike who want to expand their business horizons.
The Higher Commissioner of India to South Africa, Rajiv Bhatia said the fact that the world economy was in decline, meant there was a need for greater co-operation between South Africa and India. The two countries also required balancing their reliance on developed markets with greater commercial and economic ties with developing countries.
He said India and South Africa were still not close to achieving the targets set by the countries' leaders both in terms of bilateral trade and flow of investments. He then presented a five-point blue print for future economic engagement between South Africa and India comprising:
* government-to-government engagements that will include a visit to India by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, and a return visit by his Indian counterpart, as well Heads of State meeting at India Brazil South Africa (IBSA) summit in Brazil.
* strengthening of business-to-business engagements led by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Business Unity South Africa (BUSA)
* expediting conclusion of bilateral agreements, particularly the Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement in order to enhance the flow of Indian investment into SA and vice versa
* increase of tourism-related engagement and enhance civil aviation connectivity
* enhancing tri-lateral trade and co-operation amongst India; Brazil and South Africa.
For further information, contact:
Bongani Lukhele
Tel: 012 394 1643
Cell: 078 526 8572
E-mail: BLukhele@thedti.gov.za
Lillian Mofokeng
Chief Director
Cell: 082 888 8362
E-mail: lmofokeng@thedti.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Trade and Industry
24 July 2009
Source: Department of Trade and Industry (http://www.dti.gov.za)
