South Africa: Deputy Minister Magwanishe to lead mission to china to woo investors to local economic zones

The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) will make a presentation on South Africa’s SEZ opportunities and incentives offered 

PRETORIA, South Africa, May 23, 2018,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/- The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Bulelani Magwanishe will lead an investment roadshow to Shanghai, China aimed at wooing investors to the South African Special Economic Zones (SEZs) from 26-31 May 2018. The roadshow will give representatives of the South African government, implementers of the SEZ Programme and SEZs to present the value-proposition of South African SEZs to potential investors and finance institutions.
According to Magwanishe, the investment roadshow will take place in the form of workshops where the South African SEZ delegation led by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) will make a presentation on South Africa’s SEZ opportunities and incentives offered. The SA delegation will also conduct a benchmarking exercise for the South African SEZs by visiting thriving SEZs in Shanghai for knowledge-sharing.

The roadshow seeks to attract potential investors in different sectors to invest in in our SEZs. The targeted audience will include investors, Chinese finance institutions and government representatives. In order to have vibrant SEZs and competitive regional economies, it is therefore necessary to continuously implement a systematic marketing and investment approach for various SEZs in South Africa and to also state their value-proposition to potential investors,” says Magwanishe

South Africa has eight designated SEZs located in six of the country’s provinces. The SEZs are supported by state-of-the-art infrastructure and competitive tax incentive package.

“One of the strategic initiatives that the government, through the dti, has earmarked for accelerating the country’s industrial development agenda is the SEZs Programme. According to the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP), SEZs are used to stimulate foreign and domestic investment, increase production output leading to increased exports of value-added manufacturing goods and employment creation, amongst others,” says Magwanishe.

He adds that in light of the fact that the current focus on the SEZ implementation programme is on attracting investments to the SEZs, the ultimate objective of the roadshow is to bring together high-level local and international investors together with a view to entice their appetite to invest in South Africa.

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of The Department of Trade and Industry, South Africa.