Pretoria - South African companies will participate in the 52nd edition of the Maputo International Trade Fair next week, said the Department of Trade and Industry (dti).
The trade fair, commonly known as FACIM, is an international multi-sectoral fair held annually to showcase Mozambique as an attractive destination for trade and investment.
Twenty-seven local companies are set to participate in the fair that takes place in the Mozambican capital from 29 August to 4 September.
According to dti Minister Rob Davies, FACIM will expose South African companies to trade and investment opportunities available in Mozambique and other countries participating in the exhibition.
“The dti is striving to facilitate economic development through promoting outward investment, intra-Africa trade, regional industrialisation and infrastructure development within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and the rest of Africa. FACIM will be a good platform to promote South African manufactured products in the Mozambican market and beyond,” said Minister Davies.
Last year, the trade fair attracted 680 foreign companies, compared to 651 foreign companies in 2014. Thirty-one countries participated in the trade fair last year, compared to 26 countries in 2014. Foreign countries that participated in FACIM 2015 include South Africa, Zimbabwe, Germany, Brazil, Italy, France, Spain, Macau, Indonesia and the Netherlands.
One of the dti’s strategic goals is to grow the South African manufacturing sector in order to promote industrial development, job creation, investment and exports.
“In order to achieve this objective, the department embarks on international missions and participates in targeted international trade exhibitions in order to promote exports of South African value-added goods and services to increase market share in various regions of the world.
“This will enable South African businesses to access global markets, which will lead to them increasing their production, thereby growing the South African economy and creating employment,” said Minister Davies.
The participation of the SA companies in the popular fair is through the department’s Export Marketing and Investment Assistance (EMIA) scheme. The objective of the scheme is to develop export markets for South African products and services and to recruit new foreign direct investment into the country.
Mozambique is one of South Africa’s top five trade partners in the SADC region. Trade between the two countries totalled more than R39 billion in 2015. – SAnews.gov.za
