E Rasool: African World Economic Conference

28 November 2006

I have a simple task in a short space of time and that is to welcome all of
you to this African World Economic Conference, to Cape Town and South Africa.
In Arabic: 'Ahlan we sahlan' (our home is your home).

I have just returned from the Middle East, the subcontinent and Turkey. I
have met political leaders and business leaders. I return to South Africa with
one critical impression 'the time has never been better for the Middle East,
the Arab world, the Muslim world to embrace the African continent.'

Everything in this world we live in this world divided between east, west,
north and south, everything suggests that the time is right for a convergence
between Arabs and Africans.

More and more Arabs are asking why they should be disrespected in the west
when they spend their holidays there, invest in western businesses and send
their children to be educated there. And yet despite all of these, their Arabic
names send them to special queues at airports and their Arab dress makes them
objects of suspicion and hostility.

Your presence here in Cape Town on the southern tip of Africa should already
have shown you a country and a continent which respects both local Muslims and
Islam generally. To us your religion, your names and your dress are not objects
of suspicion and hostility but rather respect. We know that it was precisely
the contact between Africa and the Arab world that led to a civilisation in
Africa of which the rich intellectual heritage of Timbuktu is but one
symbol.

Today specifically, I welcome you as entrepreneurs and economic actors. In
welcoming all of you I want to single out our guests from Nakheel or Dubai
world. In actual essence we are also their guests since their purchase of the
Waterfront, where we meet today. In singling them out I wish to place on record
our thanks not only that they have purchased the Waterfront, together with
London and regional and a black economic empowerment (BEE) consortium led by
Hassan Adams, and not only because they have committed a one billion dollars
for the next phase of the development of the Waterfront. I thank them also that
in doing all of this they bring to us a boldness of vision, a scale of
operation and an urgency of action that South Africa appreciates, given the
deadline the world has set us in preparing for World Cup 2010.

All of these have challenged us greatly in South Africa to match the
boldness, the scale and the urgency with which all of you wish to do business
with us. This does not mean that you want us to cut corners but that we should
find ways to observe our procedures, but on a time frame that is accelerated.
The building of our World Cup 2010 stadium shows that it is possible and we
have the will. Neither does this mean that you want us to compromise the need
to empower and employ our people. Again we are rapidly overcoming the blockages
to both these imperatives.

The activities of Dubai world will greatly enhance Cape Town's stature and
preparedness for 2010 as we increase our hotel capacity, our tourism products
and enhance our city and province as the entertainment centre for 2010. I have
seen Dubai and I can already see the Cape Town of the future.

But what I thank Nakheel for mostly is that in an era of Afro-pessimism they
have shown confidence in Africa. They have tested the waters, they have taken
the plunge and they have told the world that Cape Town, South Africa, is a
great destination for tourism, trade and investment. Their message has
reverberated across the Middle East, and as I travelled through this area for
two-and-a-half-weeks, the invitations increased for me to visit more countries
and the enquiries increased about investment opportunities.

In all of my meetings my dignity and pride as a South African and African,
and as a Capetonian remained intact. I did not have to beg for aid. I did not
have to say "in Africa we are poor have sympathy." I did not simply have to
appeal for solidarity with Africa.

For the first time we can all say with confidence that Africa is beginning
to enjoy peace. In the remaining few conflicts, negotiations and reconciliation
are taking place. Africa reverberates with elections with some presidents
retiring and other new ones emerging. For the first time the fruits of peace,
democracy and stability are being realised.

Africa's mineral and oil resources are being harnessed for progress and
development. We can begin to utilise and develop our human capacity. We can
already feel the impact of technology and information. The African economic
giant is starting to emerge.

At the African World Economic Forum held in Cape Town earlier this year,
delegates were surprised to hear that the average growth rate in Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) for Africa for the last financial year was 5,5 percent. This is
unprecedented. Delegates were surprised to hear that only three countries in
Africa had negative growth rates.

This potential is waiting to be developed. Who will help Africa develop
this? It cannot only be our former colonial and imperial masters. The South
African government had decided that in terms of South Africa's foreign policy,
the Middle East is a strategic region for South Africa to be in partnership
with. This in essence is an invitation to all of you to utilise South Africa,
especially Cape Town as your soft landing in Africa, as your springboard into
sub-Saharan Africa.

Cape Town, we all joke, is what God saw and then He designed the jannah
(paradise). This is the place for tourism and investment. Where else would you
want to do business from with Africa?

I welcome you once again and hope that in a divided world this conference
will build a bridge of economic partnership, investment, tourism and trade
between Arabs and Africans not because you feel sorry for us, but because there
is money to be made in Africa.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Western Cape Provincial Government
28 November 2006