President Cyril Ramaphosa remarks to the Plenary Session 2 on the economy at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development Summit, Yokohama, Japan
Your Excellency, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba,
Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is an honour to participate in this plenary session on the economic dimension of the Africa–Japan partnership.
We gather at a critical time, where global economic uncertainty, the reshaping of trade and new industrial revolutions demand bold action and strategic collaboration.
Africa must not merely react to these forces. We must help to shape them.
South Africa is making progress in enabling our economy to participate in the rapidly changing global environment.
We have stabilised our energy supply and are modernising our infrastructure. We are opening our ports and rail to private sector investment.
We are rolling out a reindustrialisation agenda focused on localisation, green energy and regional integration.
As part of our industrial policy, we are expanding trade with key countries and improving market access for South African agricultural and industrial products.
We are incentivising electric vehicles and battery production, and supporting green hydrogen value chains through infrastructure and skills investment.
South Africa is growing its health manufacturing capacity, with a focus on vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.
Our country is also expanding digital infrastructure to bridge gaps in access and enhance service delivery.
The African Continental Free Trade Area is central to our economic vision.
South Africa seeks to deepen intra-African trade while becoming a continental industrial platform from which Japanese and other global firms can export into Africa.
We are actively working with the AfCFTA Secretariat to finalise value-chain protocols in automotive, agro-processing, pharmaceuticals and textiles.
We support Rules of Origin harmonisation to encourage manufacturing in Africa and the upgrading of border infrastructure to enable faster movement of goods.
Recent tariff actions by the United States on African goods have highlighted the need to diversify our export markets.
South Africa is a leading exporter of agricultural produce and high quality industrial products such as auto vehicles and components.
We call on our Japanese counterparts to support tariff cooperation to ease market access for African goods.
We seek partnerships in infrastructure, energy and digital development through blended finance.
We also seek partnerships in financing skills development, youth innovation and small business scaling.
Africa is not seeking aid. It is seeking partners. Partners that understand value co-creation, sustainable development and mutual industrialisation.
I thank you.
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