Day: January 25, 2024

The South African – Saudi Arabia Business Council has committed to boosting trade as part of efforts to grow the economies of both countries.

In 2023, South Africa’s exports to Saudi Arabia increased to R7.3 billion from R6.6 billion in 2022, while imports from Saudi Arabia decreased to R54.6 billion in 2023 from R73.6 billion in 2022.

The exported goods include agricultural products, motor vehicles, and basic chemicals, whereas the import items mainly consisted of refined petroleum and related products and crude oil.

Speaking at a press briefing in honour of the visiting Saudi business delegation, Co-Chair of the South African-Saudi Arabia Business Council, Stavros Nicolaou, underscored the need to increase trade and investment.

‘From my vantage point, the Saudi Arabia market presents enormous growth opportunities for South African companies looking to expand their businesses in the gulf region as shown by local companies that are slowly establishing a presence in that region,’ Nicolaou said.

President
Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition Ebrahim Patel have been leading ongoing engagements between South Africa and Saudi Arabia – which have since resulted in local businesses finding a foothold in the vast Saudi Arabia market.

Also speaking at the same media briefing, Dr Hisham Al Amoudi, Vice-Chairman of the Saudi-South Africa Business Council, reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to investing in South Africa.

Al Amoudi said the South Africa and Saudi Arabia Joint Economic Commission and the Business Council was a good platform to further progress and boost inward investments between the two respective countries.

He said Saudi Arabia is committed to increasing investment across various sectors in South Africa.

“We are committed to increasing investments for mutual benefits and supporting South Africa’s economic growth. Our current investments contribute to South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product,’ Al Amoudi said.

The visit by the Saudi business delegation aims to not only stre
ngthen current trade relations but also to explore opportunities for South African companies to increase market access with products that have high export potential to Saudi Arabia.

These products include motor vehicles for the transport of persons, fruits, mineral resources, chemicals, machinery and electrical equipment.

Additionally, the Saudi delegation seeks to boost investment from Saudi Arabia in sectors beyond South Africa’s renewable energy industry. Currently, Saudi is the largest investor in South Africa’s local renewable energy sector and ACWA Power has a leading role in this area.

Overall, it is estimated that Saudi investment into South Africa amounts to $1.62 billion.

The Business Council focuses on five main workstreams – energy and renewable energy, tourism, hospitality and entertainment, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, mining and commodities, and food and agro-processing. These areas aim to utilise investment capital from Saudi Arabia while tapping into the opportunities that South Africa
offers in these sectors.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Nampa will cover the following events on Friday, 26 January 2024:

1. Commemoration of the International Day of Education

2. Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Peya Mushelenga, to address annual staff meeting

3. Republican Day of India

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

OSHAKATI: A 44-year-old woman was arrested in the Omusati Region on Wednesday after allegedly being found in possession off over 1 000 litres of fuel believed to have been smuggled into Namibia from neighbouring Angola.

The Namibian Police Force’s (NamPol) Omusati Crime Investigations Coordinator, Moses Simaho, said the suspect was caught around 08h30 at Onandjaba village in the Okalongo constituency.

According to Simaho, the suspect was allegedly found in possession of a large number of 25 litre containers filled with fuel believed to be smuggled from Angola to Namibia.

‘She was also found busy selling to customers and the suspect failed to give satisfactory account to possess such fuel,’ he said.

Simaho indicated that they confiscated 69 containers and N.dollars 420 in cash from the woman.

The total value of the confiscated items is yet to be determined.

The suspect, amongst others, faces charges of contravening the Customs and Excise Act, as well as the Petroleum Products and Energy Act.

Police inve
stigation into the matter continues.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

WINDHOEK: The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) said it has so far completed major phases of the 2023 Population and Housing Census since its commencement on 18 September last year.

Namibia’s Statistician General Alex Shimuafeni said on Thursday that the NSA now commences with the reconciliation operation, which is the final phase of the post-enumeration survey (PES).

Late last year, the NSA conducted the PES after the census enumeration to measure the coverage and quality of the census results. It was conducted in selected constituencies and selected enumeration areas (EAs).

Shimuafeni in a statement said the reconciliation operation will be conducted countrywide from 01 to 14 February 2024, where NSA officials ‘will have to go back to the households that have persons who are found not to be matching, meaning they were found with details that are not completely matching between the Census and PES information collected.’

‘This will be done to determine the correct final match status for these individuals. T
he households will be contacted either in person or telephonically. This then serves to guarantee accurate and reliable data with respect to the content and coverage,’ he said.

The reconciliation operation, he noted, will be conducted countrywide, but only in the constituencies and their selected enumeration areas for PES, which consists of the households that were discovered during the matching operation.

To carry out the operation, NSA will require a team of 364 staff from all 14 regions, including six reserves per region and 115 vehicles. These staff will be trained on 29 and 30 January 2024, in their regions, from which 280 field staff will be deployed for the reconciliation operation.

‘The 364 staff for reconciliation are the same who worked for the PES data collection, of which the best-performing candidates were the ones selected. These staff will, however, not work within the same EAs and equally not with the same households in this current phase,’ he said.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency