Kuala lumpur: President Cyril Ramaphosa has reaffirmed South Africa as a suitable investment destination, underscoring government’s continued efforts to cut red tape and ongoing structural reforms as tangible efforts to fostering a more business-friendly climate. The President participated in a fireside discussion at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Business and Investment Summit held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Saturday.
According to South African Government News Agency, the business and investment summit was held on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit and the East Asian Summit. ‘We’ve found a number of countries and companies being very interested in investing in South Africa because we are, without any doubt, the gateway into Africa. We are the most industrialised country on the African continent, the largest economy, and we’ve got one of the best financial systems. So, we’ve got very key elements in place to make South Africa even more successful than what it is,’ President Ramaphosa as
serted.
He highlighted some of the concrete steps South Africa is taking to create a conducive climate for investment. ‘We’re getting rid of bureaucracy on an ongoing basis and dealing with our visa process so that those who want to come to South Africa to bring their talent, can come with greater ease. We are also ensuring that our education levels keep rising so that those who want to invest can have skilled workers. Our State-Owned Enterprises are.being reformed so we are on a good path going forward and rebuilding South Africa and delivering a South Africa that many countries can deal with,’ President Ramaphosa said.
Furthermore, the President pointed to the key growth areas for investment in South Africa and emphasised the country’s strong industrialisation drive. ‘What we want to do is industrialise further. To build strong firms or companies in South Africa that can contribute to increasing investments. We want to ensure that we continue being good partners. But we also want to ensure that we learn f
rom what other countries have to offer, particularly when it comes to technological development, renewable energy and when it comes to new industries, such as artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and various modernised ways of doing things. We are a very good destination for investments. We have a strong rule of law and any country that invests in our country would be able to do extremely well,’ President Ramaphosa emphasised.
Turning to the ASEAN bloc itself, President Ramaphosa highlighted the mutual benefits of the trade and knowledge-sharing relationship that the bloc and South Africa can build upon. ‘ASEAN countries have developed in spectacular ways in a number of areas [including] technology, infrastructure and in modernising their economies. We want to learn from that, and we want to share our own practise as a developing country with many countries in this part of the world, as in the developing country mold. We believe that we can learn in terms of value addition to goods. You are very strong
, as countries in this part of the world, with adding value to the various materials that you have. You are very strong in manufacturing and technological transformation. We want to learn from that, and we want to share. We also have some strengths as South Africa with the minerals that we have, with the food production that we have in our country. There’s a lot that we can share together with you,’ President Ramaphosa said.
Concluding his remarks, President Ramaphosa reiterated that government is putting in every effort, focused on the goal to ‘enable South Africa to be an investable market – a market that companies can invest in and where their investments can also be safe’.