Pretoria - Algeria and South Africa have agreed on the necessity of accelerating the establishment of a Joint Trade and Investment Committee (JTIC), said the Department of Trade and Industry (dti).
The JTIC will focus engagement across both the public and private sectors of each country in order to pursue available economic opportunities between the two.
The agreement stems from the bilateral meeting that was held in Algiers by dti Deputy Minister Elizabeth Thabethe and the Algerian Minister of Trade M. Mustapha Benbada.
Thabethe, who is leading a delegation of South African businesses, is on an Outward Selling Mission to Algeria that kicked off on Sunday.
“The dti has proposed to Algeria four sectors as key focus areas to commence the implementation of the JTIC - i.e. Agriculture, Infrastructure, Industry and Investment. Each of these sectors are key job drivers and I believe if both countries concentrate on these sectors a lot can be accomplished and mutually beneficial business linkages can be created,” said Thabethe on Monday.
She further added that the JTIC would serve as a vehicle to improve trade and investment relations between the two countries.
Thabethe encouraged the Algerian business sector to invest in South Africa.
Benbada said that he appreciated South Africa’s initiative in undertaking the Outward Selling and Investment mission to Algeria.
He welcomed the discussion and expressed eagerness on behalf of the Algerian government to work towards strengthening trade and investment relations with South Africa
The objective of the mission which concludes today [Tuesday] is to create market access for South African value added products and services into new markets and to promote South Africa as a trade and investment destination. – SAnews.gov.za
