20 June 2007
Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka says relations between Lesotho and
South Africa have to always be strong as the two countries are 'interwoven in
the stomach' because of the shared history, culture and geography. The Deputy
President was addressing the South Africa-Lesotho Business Forum in Cape Town
today. The meeting was attended by the visiting Prime Minister of Lesotho,
Phakalitha Mosisili accompanied by senior members of his government, the South
African Deputy Trade and Industry Minister, Rob Davies and both Lesotho and
South African business leaders.
Prime Minister Mosisili, echoed the Deputy President's sentiments and urged
South African business to take advantage of the investment opportunities in the
landlocked Mountain Kingdom. The two countries highlighted some of the
opportunities for investment in both countries. Current trade between Lesotho
and South Africa had a skew of the ratio 8:1 in South Africa's favour with
Lesotho importing 86 percent of the goods from South Africa, primarily.
Lesotho's major export to South Africa is water from the Katse Dam. 'Each time
South Africans drink a glass of water, they pay dividends to Lesotho,' Ms
Mlambo-Ngcuka said in jest.
The Deputy President highlighted some of the opportunities that could be
accessed by Lesotho in the upcoming 2010 Fifa world cup. Some of the
opportunities included power generation that is planned for the second phase of
the Katse dam, the Sani Pass trans-frontier project, the proposed rail link
between the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal going through Lesotho. South
Africa's Department of Trade and Industry (the DTI) also promised to host a
Small Medium and Medium Enterprise (SMME) business opportunity conference in
Lesotho following the one held for South African businesses yesterday, Tuesday
in Ekurhuleni.
Investments opportunities in Lesotho included tourism, ski resorts, hotel
accommodation, clothing manufacturing among others. The delegation also
explained their investor-attracting effort in the form of tax breaks and other
incentives. The meeting was informed that due to the quality of sandstone
provided in Lesotho, it would be used a lot more to meet the booming
construction industry needs in South Africa. A further vote of confidence in
Lesotho business was expressed by the Development Bank of Southern Africa
stating that they were going to concentrate on providing more funding to
private enterprises in Lesotho.
For more information, please contact:
Thabang Chiloane
Cell: 082 888 8783
Issued by: The Presidency
20 June 2007
Source: SAPA
