North West delegation to Germany
14 December 2007
The trip to Germany was a response to the annual invitation by the honorary
consulate of the Republic of South Africa based in the State of Saxony, in East
Germany. The first port of call was the Dresden Airport and then the hour-long
journey to a city called Chemnitz, previously known as Karl Marx Stadt, where
the entourage stayed for four days in between business and ceremonial exchanges
and German-style culinary served in different venues where they met
businesspeople from the arts, culture, tourism and mostly engineering and
manufacturing fraternity.
The city has a rich history of the East German industrial revolution, with
an industrial museum boasting all the makes of cars from before the 18th
century, and all vestiges of the industrial actions, accidents and strikes.
Chemnitz has a legacy of engineering technology diversity. The Karl Marx Centre
boasts the bust of Karl Marx at the entrance and here people can buy all
artefacts from the Karl Marx era, as well as other shopping items, making it a
unique museum.
All the tourist attractions and the artefacts that still manufacturing
industry city is the Karl Marx centre which a museum promoting artefacts from
the Karl Marx era (an economy-sensitive tourist model which is typical of this
ancient state).
The invitation, which was honoured by the MEC and two of his agencies,
namely the MIDZ and Invest North West, was used as an opportunity to share
possible business, educational exchange and investment opportunities from both
the East German province of Saxony and the North West province. The MEC
entourage travelled a lot from one city to the next and the excursions were
tailored for business meetings and to expose the team to the tourism revolution
that sees the old historical buildings, among which are cathedrals and royal
palaces, used as tourist attractions (museums, tourist restaurants, etc.) which
certainly generate lots of money but offers historians and other academics a
wealth of information for their academic discourse and publications and other
uses.
The business meetings saw the team to a tour of an industrial vehicle
assembly plant that has a sister counterpart in Richards Bay in South Africa.
We also had presentations, business lunches and dinners from teams comprising
mayors of cities, business chambers and company bosses. The talks were very
fruitful, especially after the presentations from the North West province, one
by the MEC of Economic Development and Tourism Mr Darkey Africa and another by
the CEO of the MIDZ Mr Tebogo Kebotlhale on behalf of that institution.
The teams consisted of the MEC and his office, represented by Ms Nomvula
Bosman and Ms Zodwa Mvulane (Invest North West), Chairperson and CEO of the
MIDZ, Dr Mosime and Mr Tebogo Kebotlhale. Hopefully this team will return soon
to clinch large deals or the German teams will come over to see the North West
province and invest in it.
The impressions gathered during the entourage visit were that the Germans
are extremely advanced in engineering and technology and a lot of lessons can
be learnt from them. The cities are extremely clean and in spite of the very
low November temperatures, the interiors were very warm and extremely
welcoming. Some of the entourage members said that they will miss the courtesy
of the Germans and their professionalism demonstrated during their visit.
For further information contact:
Ms Dumisa Seshabela
Tel: 018 387 7860/7855
Cell: 082 524 1499
Issued by: Department of Economic Development and Tourism, North West
Provincial Government
14 December 2007
