Pretoria - Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Mzwandile Masina has urged Vietnamese companies to invest in the South African manufacturing sector.
Speaking at the third session of the South Africa-Vietnam Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting at the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) offices in Pretoria, the Deputy Minister called on Vietnamese companies to invest in South Africa.
“A concerted effort must be put on promoting bilateral investments between South Africa and Vietnam. I would like to invite Vietnamese companies to seek investment opportunities in our manufacturing sector. There are sizeable investment opportunities for Vietnamese companies in the manufacturing of wood products, textiles and garments, as well as in mining beneficiation,” said the Deputy Minister.
Deputy Minister Masina co-chaired the session with his Vietnamese counterpart, Do Thang Hai, on Wednesday.
The Deputy Minister said for South Africa, the key priority remains the promotion of investment in infrastructure and manufacturing in order to break out of commodity dependency, and to increase the manufacturing base for value-added products.
The Deputy Minister said Vietnam must undertake trade missions to South Africa, with the aim of promoting the sourcing of value-added products and to bring investors that will invest in key sectors of the South African economy, as provided for in the country’s Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP).
“Investing in South Africa will put Vietnamese companies in an economy that has access to the rest of Africa, which provides a market of over one billion people,” said Deputy Minister Masina.
Total trade between the two countries has increased from R3.7 billion in 2010 to R18.4 billion in 2015.
“This represents a marked improvement in our trade. This was due to South Africa’s demand for Vietnamese products such as footwear, printing machines and furniture,” the Deputy Minister said.
South Africa, on the other hand, exported primary products, including fresh fruit.
The Deputy Minister believes there is scope to improve trade relations between the two countries. He said South Africa will continue to pursue export opportunities in Vietnam by undertaking Outward Selling Missions to promote South Africa’s value-added products in Vietnam.
Deputy Minister Thang Hai said his country is impressed by the expansion of total bilateral trade volumes between South Africa and Vietnam.
He said there is a need for the two countries to create more favourable conditions for trade and investment for businesspeople from the two countries.
The dti will lead a delegation of 15 local companies on a mission to Vietnam later this month. The companies are operating in the agro-processing, water management, oil and gas, mining and capital equipment sectors. – SAnews.gov.za
