Ms Christine Lagarde, Minister of Economy
Finance and Industry, France
Dr Rob Davies, Minister of Trade and Industry, South Africa
Honourable Ministers from South Africa,
Ms Laurence Parisot, President, MEDEF,
Ms Futhi Mtoba, President, Business Unity South Africa
Captains of Industry from South Africa and France,
Distinguished guests,
Let me take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to President Sarkozy and the French Government for hosting us this week.
We also welcome this important interaction with the business community of our two countries.
We have had very fruitful discussions since our arrival yesterday, and it is clear that the relations between the two countries will continue to grow from strength to strength.
The French Republic ranks among South Africa's 10 most significant economic partners in terms of trade, investment, development cooperation as well as research and development.
We are pleased to have over 170 French companies operating in South Africa.
You would recall that the total bilateral trade between our two countries had reached 32 billion rand in 2008, but dropped to 23 billion rand in 2009.
The decrease was no doubt caused by the economic recession that the world is emerging from.
The environment is now ripe for the revitalisation of trade to place it on a new growth trajectory.
On the South African side we have instructed our teams to facilitate an increase in South African exports, and thus help support the local manufacturing sector.
Ladies and gentlemen,
You may be aware that we have taken a certain focus this year in the transformation of our country.
In 1994, when we attained our freedom, we addressed our political challenges, which were enormous. We have built a solid foundation politically, and are consolidating our solid, vibrant democracy.
We have worked hard to reverse a legacy of centuries of colonial oppression and apartheid. It was not easy given the inequalities that existed. From 2009, we have decided to focus on five priorities.
These are education, health, rural development, the fight against crime and job creation.
We have decided to focus more intensively on job creation through meaningful economic transformation this year, and are mobilising all sectors of our society towards this goal.
Our ultimate goal is to build a South Africa with decent employment opportunities, a modern infrastructure, a vibrant economy and a high quality of life.
To this end, we have introduced a New Growth Path that places employment and decent work at the heart of our common efforts.
We want to work with the business sector domestically and internationally, as there are many opportunities for business to participate in our economy.
Research has indicated that we can create jobs in six priority areas. These are infrastructure development, agriculture, mining and beneficiation, manufacturing, the green economy and tourism.
We invite the business community of France to explore opportunities in these key sectors of our economy.
We are also paying renewed attention to our small business sector which is a critical component of the job creation drive.
We are also aware of the need to make it easier and cheaper to do business in our country and are reviewing our legislation and regulations in order to cut administrative costs and the red tape.
Over the next 10 years, our government will spend more than 846 billion rand on the infrastructure development programme.
We will invest significantly in energy, transport, communications, water and social infrastructure such as housing.
A number of French construction and energy companies are already partnering South African companies in building infrastructure in South Africa and the African Continent.
A practical example of our infrastructure development success was the massive construction of stadiums, roads and other infrastructure, ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
It demonstrated that an African country was capable of managing a project of this magnitude.
The green economy will also be a strong focus of our work this year. We have a commitment to our children to combat the effects of climate change and global warming.
But we also see a big job-potential in the green economy. We have to expand our power-generation to renewable sources of energy.
There is a good foundation for taking economic cooperation forward between our two countries.
One of the instruments we should use better is the South Africa-European Union Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement which was concluded in 1999, especially to help us to promote exports.
We also acknowledge the role of MEDEF which supports South African companies wishing to set up business links in France. This support goes a long way in aiding local firms to increase their global footprint.
Ladies and gentlemen,
You should also, in the deliberations of this forum, not lose sight of the fact that Africa is among the new pillars of economic growth, and offers a market of one billion consumers.
In a recent survey, the continent's growth potential was estimated to be seven trillion rand by 2020 with growth in consumer goods, infrastructure, mining and agriculture.
Globally, six of the ten fastest-growing economies in the period 2000 to 2010 were African countries.
South Africa and France are already leading investors in the continent and these opportunities bode well for a mutual partnership for the development of the African continent.
We welcome the fact that the world is finally moving away from Afro-pessimism towards seeing Africa not as a charity case but an important contributor to global stability and growth.
I encourage the forum to explore this mutual partnership of opportunities for the economic development, poverty alleviation and prosperity of the African continent.
Ladies and gentlemen,
This year South Africa assumed membership of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) grouping.
We will be able to advance the African agenda and increase strategic cooperation among emerging market economies of the South in support of this agenda.
We will also promote our interest in areas such as agriculture, science, statistics, development finance institutions and security issues.
South Africa has also taken up a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council from January this year.
We will work with France on a number of issues especially peace and stability on the African continent and generally on global peace and cooperation efforts.
Most importantly, since France chairs the G20 and G8 groupings, we will work together in those forums too, including in the G20 Development Working group which France and South Africa co-chair with South Korea.
The G20 is the most promising institution to define a new governance and multinational leadership model post crisis, despite its well-known challenges regarding its legitimacy and mandate.
The future impact of the G20 will depend on its ability to safeguard the post-recession recovery.
The G20 has to contribute to building the foundation for sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth, and for making financial systems more risk resilient.
The G20 agenda must also address the need to rebuild a true partnership between governments and business.
This will enable business to remain innovative, enterprising and job creating, and similarly, will ensure that governments do not become too overwhelmed by internal issues and constraints to the detriment of exercising global leadership.
Ladies and gentlemen,
From 28 November to 4 December we will host the United Nations Conference of the Parties climate change conference in Durban, South Africa.
We trust that internationally, the business sector sees a role for itself in such a critical global dialogue.
The business sector like other stakeholders must develop the capacity to engage systematically on policy issues.
It must identify long-term needs, opportunities and commitments, and to set targets to measure progress toward sustainable development.
Sustainable development can contribute to inclusive growth by opening new production opportunities, for instance in generating green energy and supporting local and organic production.
That in turn may provide chances for small and micro enterprise as well as generating new employment. There is definitely a role for business in the COP 17 dialogue.
We look forward to engaging with business on such issues.
Ladies and gentlemen,
There are clearly many areas of cooperation between the two countries. We urge our respective business communities to take advantage of these growing bilateral relations and explore opportunities in the two economies.
We invite the French business community to explore our economy and the vast opportunities that it has to offer, especially in this critical year of job creation in our country.
We thank you for the interest shown in the South African economy and look forward to working with you.
I thank you.
