Gauteng drums up investment at SA-Europe dialogue

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

In the build-up to the South Africa Investment Conference and the Africa Investment Forum, taking place next month, the Gauteng Provincial Government is hosting the Southern Africa-Europe CEO Dialogue.

The two-day dialogue, which started on Tuesday, is a bid by the province to garner investment to the economic hub.

“We are here to remind investors that Gauteng is open for business. Investors can consider agro-processing, automotive, manufacturing and the pharmaceutical industry,” said Gauteng Premier Makhura.

In its sixth year, the summit expanded from the South Africa-Italy Summit to the Southern Africa-Europe CEO Dialogue which now includes business and government leaders from all over the SADC region, thus encouraging inclusive growth.

The dialogue provides participants with a unique opportunity to interact directly with prominent European and African CEO’s, ministers and institutions.

Over the four-year period of Gauteng Province hosting the summit, the conversations have yielded twelve key foreign direct investments (FDI’s) into the Gauteng economy by Italian companies, mainly in agro-processing.

The provincial government’s public-private sector investments over the next 5-7 years are worth R500 million.

Ultimately, the province wants to attract 50% (R750 billion) of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s investment drive of R1.5 trillion.

“Gauteng is positioned at the heart of the country and the continent in terms of industrial output. The province is well positioned to drive investment aimed at creating jobs and growing the economy of South Africa.

“In the past few years, we have seen massive investments in manufacturing, with a direct investment by Italian companies in a truck manufacturing plant in Rosslyn,” said the Premier.

The investment drive is aligned to the Growing Gauteng Together vision 2030 to strengthen strategic partnerships with the private sector to address issues of infrastructure, unemployment and spatial transformation of the Gauteng City Region.

In November, Premier Makhura will officiate the sod-turning of the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone in Silverton, which will attract massive investments into the Gauteng economy. – SAnews.gov.za