The Deputy Minster of Trade and Industry (the dti), Thandi Tobias-Pokolo, says the South African government has never been more committed than it is today, to providing support to the automotive industry.
Tobias-Pokolo was delivering a keynote address at the Automotive Industry Conference 2009, hosted by the Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC). The two-day conference is being held at the Moffett on Main Shopping Centre in Port Elizabeth, under the theme ‘navigating the storm: A roadmap to vision 2020,’ and forms part of the South African Automotive Week. More than 100 automotive component suppliers are exhibiting their wares at the show until Saturday, 10 October.
“The South African government has, amongst others, prioritised the automotive industry as part of the sectors in our economy with the expectation that the country should produce more than 1.2 million cars per year by 2020. This is part of our vision 2020 for the sector. But we have all seen the challenges that result from the global economic crisis. These are realistic and require to be dealt with by both government and the automotive sector, as they impact negatively on our strategies. This also calls for the review of the vision 2020 strategy, in line with the new challenges that we have to contend with as a country,” said Tobias-Pokolo.
She added that there was a need for government and the key automotive industry players to work together and ensure that productivity levels increase, if Vision 2020 were to become a reality.
“We need to develop some innovative ways of achieving our targets. The government has come on board through the Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP) and its successor, the Automotive Production Development Programme (APDP). We also need to shift from production of light vehicles and focus on heavy vehicles, buses and their components. There is also a need to improve on trade agreements, especially with the European Union and the United States of America,” added Tobias-Pokolo.
Speaking at the same conference, the Gauteng Economic Development and Planning MEC, Firoz Cachalia, said the automotive sector, which employs more than 300 000 people, was playing a critical in role in assisting government to achieve its objective of creating decent jobs.
“The economic crisis that we are faced with at present presents opportunities to consolidate collaborative relationships between government and the automotive industry. Partnerships are fundamental if we are going to address the consequences of this crisis with a long-term objective of placing industry on a secure and stable growth path,” added Cachalia.
For more information contact:
Sidwell Medupe
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 073 522 6801
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Lillian Mofokeng
Cell: 082 888 8362
E-mail: lmofokeng@thedti.gov.za Issued by:
Issued by: Department of Trade and Industry
9 October 2009
Source: Department of Trade and Industry (http://www.thedti.gov.za/)
