Pretoria - Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has encouraged South African Ambassadors to build strong alliances with other countries for South Africa and Africa’s development.
Addressing the Heads of Mission Conference in Pretoria on Thursday, the Deputy President said South Africa looks to Ambassadors to explain to international partners the country’s position on critical matters of national, continental and global importance.
“We must build alliances with fraternal parties and social formations across Africa to pursue the growth and development of our country and the continent.
“We must build alliances with other countries, political parties, international organisations and leading global figures in our effort to build a united, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous society.
“In you, our global representatives, South Africa has a rich and irreplaceable repository of knowledge, experience, insight and capability.”
He urged missions to work with government to identify, facilitate and coordinate scholarships and training programmes for South African youth, and to connect youth development expos with global partners.
Profiling SA’s potential in business, tourism
On the business front, the Deputy President said the country is improving the ease of doing business, providing incentives and other forms of support to investors and investing heavily in its economic infrastructure.
“We need to ask what research, resources and technology our host countries can contribute to support industrialisation, mineral beneficiation and agro-processing in South Africa. We need to draw on the expertise of [other] countries and design programmes that will enable us to share knowledge and skills.
“We need to engage in the painstaking work of untangling the administrative impediments that often hold back the import of South African goods into our host countries. We need to find ways to expose businesses in these countries to the opportunities that exist in South Africa and facilitate their investment in our economy.”
Deputy President Ramaphosa said tourism is a significant area of potential growth and employment creation.
He said South African missions have a critical role to play in encouraging the citizens of their host countries to visit South Africa and experience its hospitality, natural wonders and rich cultural diversity.
“We have also identified the ocean economy as a growth opportunity. We are continuously looking for international partners who can contribute to the skilling of South Africans in areas like port management, aquaculture, oil and gas exploration and ship building.
“We are using our membership of the Indian Ocean Rim Association, which we will chair from October 2017, to unlock the potential of the ocean economy. This will further provide us an opportunity to enhance cooperation, build new enterprises and create jobs for our people.” - SAnews.gov.za
