South Sudan Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, His Excellency Dr. Marial Awou Yol and his delegation;
Mr Siphiwe Ngwenya, Acting CEO of the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency;
Ladies and gentlemen.
It gives me great pleasure to address you today as we meet to explore trade and investment opportunities with South Sudan.
As the Gauteng Department of Economic Development, we believe that trade and investment promotion is crucial to us overcoming the triple challenge of unemployment, poverty and inequality. To this end, we facilitated a number of investments and established the Gauteng Investor Business Lounge to enhance the experience of doing business in Gauteng.
In fact, in the near future, we will officially open this one-stop centre for investors which will be located in Sandton. Once it is fully operational, the Gauteng Investor Business Centre will serve as a single interaction facility that will allow investors to lodge information and queries with one body to assist with business approval requirements. It will therefore serve as a focal point for Gauteng’s collaborative approach to promoting foreign direct investment (FDI), export and business immigration and attraction. It will provide the best in class and latest presentation facilities. In a nutshell, it will make it easier for investors to do business in Gauteng.
The Gauteng Growth and Development Agency has also initiated the Africa Focus Programme, which is specifically aimed at providing business and market intelligence to local firms already exporting and trading with other African countries.
We aim to provide platforms for sharing information and identifying opportunities for collaboration to ensure that we are able to develop regional growth coalitions with stakeholders.
South Sudan is important to the South African government, as highlighted by the role that was played by the South African government in the brokering of a peace deal in the Sudan. South Africa is the champion of the infrastructure committee nominated by the African Union and of course, South Sudanese energy exploration and beneficiation prospects are attractive to South African business.
Several international investors are already operating in the South Sudan’s largest export sector of oil and gas mining. We believe that, together, we can promote South Sudan’s potential in the areas of agri-processing, mining, manufacturing and services. South African companies also have the capability to play a key role in the development of infrastructure, as well as property and housing development.
The Gauteng City-Region contributes a significant proportion of South Africa’s economic output, with its different areas focused variously on mining, manufacturing, financial and business services, innovation or trade, working together to constitute a functionally integrated urban economy and single labour market. This region is the country’s centre of trade with Southern Africa and beyond.
Gauteng generated 35.6% or an estimated R675 billion of the GDP last year, consolidating its position as a single largest contributor to the economy of the country. The province also accounted for 68% of all exports from the country and 61.4% of imports. This suggests that Gauteng is able to generate more money from abroad than any other province. The province was also one of the biggest economic hubs in the continent last year, having contributed 7.7% to Africa's GDP last year.
Ladies and gentlemen, we would love to share with you the opportunities and key considerations in doing business in Africa's largest economy, Gauteng. We also want to explore the opportunities for South African companies to connect with business opportunities in South Sudan.
Thank you.
