Pretoria - Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is in Singapore for the second leg of his two-nation working visit to Asia aimed at consolidating existing bilateral, political, economic and trade relations.
On Tuesday, he concluded his visit to Vietnam, where he took lessons on how government can develop the country and reduce poverty.
In Singapore, Deputy President Ramaphosa and his delegation are expected to explore opportunities of trade and investment. Singapore’s state owned enterprises (SOE) will be wooed to invest in South Africa through public-private partnerships, in line with South Africa's Nine-Point Plan.
Singapore's SOEs have contributed significantly, through the sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, to that country’s economic development programme.
“Singapore is a world model for its economic success, which is partly attributable to its social cohesion. Singapore is expected to share with the Deputy President and his delegation lessons learnt on its path to economic success,” the Presidency said in a statement.
Deputy President Ramaphosa is also expected to secure the commitment of Singapore to assist South Africa with skills development and to increase the number of training courses for South African students offered under the Singapore Co-operation Programme.
During his working visit, the Deputy President is expected to pay a courtesy call on the President of Singapore, Tony Tan Keng Yam, and meet Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong over a working lunch.
He will also engage in a roundtable discussion with investors, visit the Ports of Singapore Authority and the Housing Development Board, and address the Lee Kuan School of Public Policy.
South Africa and Singapore have been strengthening their bilateral economic relations, with trade between the two countries having grown significantly. Singapore is now South Africa's second largest trading partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region.
By 2014, bilateral trade amounted to R28.9 billion, compared to R23.5 billion recorded in 2015. Exports in 2015 amounted to R6.8 billion, while imports totalled R16.6 billion.
Ten South African companies, including Naspers, Computamaps and Investec, had a total capital expenditure of R1.67 billion between 2003 and 2015 which they have invested in Singapore. During this period, a total of 987 jobs were created in the industrial sector, hotels and tourism, financial services and ICT.
Four foreign direct investment (FDI) projects from Singapore were recorded up to March 2016, with a capital expenditure amounting to R246.06 million, creating 223 jobs. – SAnews.gov.za
