Government host a Forestry and Timber Summit in Mthatha
20 February 2007
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mandisi Mpahlwa will deliver a
keynote address at the two-day Forestry and Timber Processing Summit that will
be hosted by the dti and the Eastern Cape Provincial Government at the Mthatha
Health Resource Centre from Sunday, 25 February 2007 to Tuesday, 27 February
2007.
The dti, jointly with the Eastern Cape Department of Economic Affairs,
Environment and Tourism have identified forestry and timber processing as a
potential growth sector in the Eastern Cape province. This is in line with the
President's State of the Nation Address of Friday, 9 February 2007, which
listed the acceleration, and finalisation of development programmes for
forestry and its downstream processing industries as a key tenet of industrial
policy.
The Eastern Cape province has great potential for growth and job creation in
forestry and downstream processing industries. Consequently, the summit will be
attended by the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, Ms Lindiwe Hendricks,
the Premier of the Eastern Cape, Mrs Nosimo Balindlela, the Eastern Cape MEC
for Economic Affairs, Environment and Tourism, Mr Mbulelo Sogoni and several
Executive Mayors of the Eastern Cape province.
The purpose of the summit was well captured by Minister Mpahlwa, during the
recent O R Tambo District Growth and Development Summit, where he argued that
the region needed to build regional competitive capabilities and establish firm
level support measures to enhance performance in enterprise establishment,
business growth and retention, as well as attracting foreign direct
investment.
The summit will compile strategies to enhance local economic activities in
all local municipalities that are endowed with forests and plantations. It will
also focus on improved access to regional economic opportunities, especially
through beneficiation strategies thus unlocking linkages with areas with
significant concentrations of poor and unemployed people.
The summit forms part of the resolutions taken at the 2006 Eastern Cape Job
Summit. Participants in the jobs summit committed themselves to collaborating
to build a robust social partnership in support of the 2014 targets of the
Eastern Cape Provincial Growth and Development Plan (PGDP). These include
halving the unemployment rate by 2014 and maintaining an economic growth rate
of between 5% and 8% per annum. The forestry sector and its downstream
processing are key industries in achieving these objectives.
Representatives from the timber and forestry industry such as Sappi,
Furntech, Global Forestry Products, Eastern Cape Development Corporation, Small
Medium and Micro entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs, local investors,
financial institutions like the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and
labour will also attend.
Some of the topics to be covered at the summit are:
* future timber supply and demand scenarios for SA
* forestry and processing opportunities and recent developments in the Eastern
Cape
* opportunities or mechanisms for Skills Development in the Forest Sector
* technology transfer; bridging the technological divide.
It is envisaged that outcomes of the summit will form part of the Regional
Industrial Development strategy (RIDS). These are projects such as industrial
restructuring, industrial clustering and local enterprise support have already
received coverage within the RIDS strategic objectives of regional economic
growth as well as reduction of poverty and unemployment.
Enquiries:
Bongani Lukhele
Media Relations
Tel: (012) 394 1643
Cell: 083 291 8689
Issued by: Department of Trade and Industry
20 February 2007
