Pretoria - Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Elizabeth Thabethe has urged Indian businesses to invest in the South African economy, saying it offers a multitude of opportunities.
Thabethe was speaking at a business seminar at the Trident Hotel in Mumbai, India.
The seminar forms part of the dti’s Investment and Trade Initiative (ITI) that began in New Delhi on Monday. The ITI is part of the department’s Export and Investment Promotion Strategy, which focuses on targeted high growth markets with the objective of creating investment and export opportunities for South African companies.
“The South African economy offers a multitude of opportunities. This is something to which a number of Indian companies doing business in our country can attest to.
“Companies such as Tata, Godrej, Infosys and Ranbaxy have already established themselves and made a formidable presence in South Africa. I’m sure they are not regretting their decision to invest in South Africa,” said Thabethe on Thursday.
She added that South Africa and India had laid the best seeds of cooperation to make the environment was conductive for businesspeople to do business in the two countries.
“It is now time for these seeds to receive the necessary care so that they can spring to life in the months to come and bear many high-quality fruits. I believe that the fundamentals are in place to steer us towards achieving the US$15 billion target by 2014 as set by President Jacob Zuma during his state visit to India in 2010,” said Thabethe.
The deputy minister added that South Africa was one of the most sophisticated, diverse and promising emerging markets in the world.
“It is strategically located on the African continent and is a key investment location, both for the market opportunities that lie within its borders and for the opportunity that exists to use the country as a gateway to the rest of the continent, a market of nearly one billion people.
“This makes South Africa an ideal partner for captains of industry from India who would like to be part of the next growth point, the next dynamic investment destination, which is Africa,” said the deputy minister.
In 2012, total trade between the two countries was worth around R62 billion.
On Friday, Thabethe will be leading International Women’s Day celebrations during an event that has been arranged for the South African women delegates and their Indian counterparts.
Her five-day visit concludes today. - SAnews.gov.za
