Her Royal Highness, Princess Sofia Bernadotie
Your Excellency, Ms Åsa Romson, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden
Your Excellency, Mr Anders Hagelberg, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden to Republic of South Africa
Your Excellency, Ms Faith Radebe, South Africa’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers present
Business Leaders and Captains of Industry
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is an honour and pleasure for me to address this esteemed South Africa - Sweden Business Forum.
South Africa and Sweden share a special, historical bond which was forged in the crucible of the struggle against the appalling apartheid regime. We owe a debt of gratitude for the outstanding solidarity Sweden personified at the height of our struggle for freedom, democracy and justice.
It was in that period that the national hero of the Swedish people, the late Prime Minister Olof Palme, became a hero of the South African people.
Addressing the Swedish People’s Parliament on Apartheid in February 1986, six days before he was assassinated, Prime Minister Palme pointed out that, a system like apartheid could not be reformed, but had to be completely abolished.
Working for many years with South Africa’s “indefatigable champion of freedom”, Oliver Tambo, our national icons made great strides in sending apartheid to the “lumber-room of history.”
Delivering the first Olof Palme Memorial Lecture on disarmament and development in New York in January 1987, Oliver Tambo said Prime Minister Palme “understood that the achievement of peace itself requires that the world community should abolish underdevelopment and guarantee the social progress of all peoples.”
Tambo added:
“Every age has its prophet….as a prophet of our age, Olof Palme showed us a vision of a world free of oppression, hunger, and war. He spoke for millions of people who readily responded to the imperatives of our time to be free, secure, and not threatened by poverty.”
Together with the support of Sweden and its people, we defeated and abolished apartheid.
In the past two decades of our freedom, we have achieved a lot of progress.
However, our progress continues to be challenged by the legacy of years of divisions, underdevelopment, unemployment, poverty and unemployment.
In remembering our indestructible historical ties, this South Africa Sweden Business engagement and the Bi-National Commission should seize the moment, be imaginative, and recommit to strengthen our trade relations to guarantee the social progress of the people of our countries.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In 1999 the Heads of State of our respective countries decided to strengthen relations between our respective countries by creating the Binational Commission.
The first session took place in 2000 and since then 8 sessions have been held.
During the deliberations at this 9th session, officials from our countries will explore investment and trade opportunities for our nations.
Discussions will include skills development, SMME development, ICTS, water and sanitation, urban planning, transport, the green economy, the ocean economy and other areas of interests of mutual interest.
We will engage frankly on challenges to increased trade between our countries with the intention to speedily resolve them.
As our vision to 2030, the NDP aims to grow our economy at a far greater rate and decisively address underdevelopment, poverty, unemployment and inequality.
The NDP has been translated into the Medium-Term Strategic Framework, which outlines the priorities and actions for the five-year term of this government.
In February this year, President Jacob Zuma outlined nine immediate priority areas to stimulate growth.
These include greater beneficiation of our mineral wealth, more effective implementation of our Industrial Policy Action Plan, resolving the energy challenge, and unlocking the potential of small businesses.
They also include revitalisation of the agriculture and agro-processing value chain, developing the ocean economy, and encouraging private sector investment.
Other areas include steps to address work place conflict, the reform of state owned companies, and the roll-out of critical social and economic infrastructure.
Industrialisation and skills development have been identified as key drivers of our economic growth.
We have to deliver information and communication technologies that improve the lives of our people, and we are pleased with Sweden’s interest in this regard as seen through the Broadband for All Initiative.
We are also developing an efficient and secure public transport network, and Sweden can play a crucial role in this development.
South Africa is looking for opportunities to access the Swedish market for a variety of our value added goods.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
South Africa occupies a strategic position in the African continent.
We are ideally placed as a gateway for Swedish investors wishing to venture our continent.
We are a leading investor in the continent and together we can explore commercial opportunities which will benefit our countries and the people of Africa.
One specific opportunity relates to Sweden’s joining President Barack Obama’s Power Africa initiative.
Power Africa will increase access to electricity in rural areas, provide commercial opportunities to entrepreneurs, and create employment.
Through Power Africa, the Swedish Development Agency (SIDA) is contributing to on-going and planned interventions within the African energy sector, especially through new partnerships.
With South Africa currently accounting for 90% of clean energy investment on the African continent, it is prudent for Swedish and South African companies to foster collaboration to contribute to energy infrastructure development in Africa.
South Africa’s renewable energy rollout has not only contributed to energy access and security and reduced emissions but, has resulted in other significant benefits.
To date, renewable energy projects in South Africa have attracted R192.6 billion in investment.
The independent power producers have committed a total of R19.1 billion towards socio-economic development initiatives in communities in which they operate, contributing to income generation and sustainable livelihoods.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In order to boost economic growth and create employment, our government has committed to an ambitious infrastructure investment programme which will position South Africa as an investment destination of choice.
We have identified 18 Strategic Investment Projects under the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Committee (PICC).
Over the next 15 - 20 years, our government will spend more than R 4 Trillion rand to alleviate the constraints and bottlenecks we are experiencing in energy, transport, water and communication infrastructure.
Africa is an enormous market of one billion people and it has fast-growing economies.
Seven of the ten fastest-growing economies globally are African countries.
Sweden is one of South Africa’s most important trading partners in the Euro28.
We must keep engaging on issues of mutual interest and improve economic and trade relations between us.
Sweden is one of the world’s leading net exporters of advanced manufacturing goods, which include machinery, motor vehicles, paper products, pulp and wood, iron and steel products and chemicals.
Sweden’s highly skilled workforce contributes significantly to the success of the Swedish economy and this is an area where we must focus on increasing cooperation.
We are grateful that South African students are already benefitting from training opportunities at leading Swedish universities in certain priority sectors.
This is also an area that will be further explored during the Bi-National Commission deliberations during the Bi-National Commission.
Developing South Africa’s manufacturing sector, which is the economy’s second largest and making it more globally competitive, will give local firms a fair chance of competing with their international peers, and alleviate the pressure that a large trade deficit has on the economy.
Ladies and Gentleman,
The whole continent of Africa is on a positive, new growth trajectory.
The continent has chosen an industrialisation path driven through regional integration, infrastructure development, mineral beneficiation and developing the agricultural value chain.
As we are a strategic business entry point into the rest of the African continent, solid partnerships between our companies only make good business sense for everyone.
South Africa is not only a destination for FDI, we are now also an important source of FDI on the African continent.
The African continent is widely acknowledged as the next growth frontier and South Africa is in the fortunate position of having identified the growth opportunities in Africa many years ago already.
This is why our trade policy prioritises regional development through the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Tripartite Free Trade Area (T-FTA) signed in June 2015 in Sharm el-Sheikh and the Continental Free Trade Area (C-FTA).
These Agreements do not only open the door to South African exporters. They also provide investment opportunities for companies domiciled in South Africa.
Opportunities for South African and Swedish companies to collaborate to take advantage of the positive growth in our continent are numerous and wide –ranging.
Swedish companies must also exploit the trade and investment opportunities that are present in South Africa stemming from our industrial policy action plan.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
South Africa is pleased with the World Economic Forum’s Annual Global Competitiveness Report 2015/16 in which South Africa climbed up 7 places from position 56 to 49 of 140 countries.
South Africa’s biggest improvements came in the areas of: health and primary education (up 6 places), efficiency (up 6 places), technological readiness (up 16 places), and innovation (up 5 places).
South Africa has also improved in the areas of macro-economic environment (up 4 places), higher education and training (up 3 places), and business sophistication (up 2 places).
Africa is ready for business South Africa is ready to partner with you in the economic development of our Continent.
The business environment in South Africa is stable, vibrant and conducive to increased trade and investment.
The South African Government is committed to improving the investment climate and ease of doing business.
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr Stefan Lofven, has recently emphasised that we “need a solidarity to root out poverty and craft a sustainable future for all.”
If Olof Palme and Oliver Tambo were prophets of their time, it is you Captains of Industry who can act decisively to “abolish underdevelopment and guarantee the social progress of all our people.”
I thank you.
