SA COMMITTED TO WORK CLOSELY WITH DRC – ACTING DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL

SA COMMITTED TO WORK CLOSELY WITH DRC – ACTING DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL

South Africa is committed to collaborating with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in its efforts to develop the country’s economy.

The Acting Deputy Director-General of Trade and Investment at the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) Mr Yunus Hoosen said this. He was speaking at a Trade and Investment Seminar that was hosted bythe dti in Kinshasa today. The seminar was part of the Investment and Trade Initiative (ITI) that the department is currently undertaking with 30 businesspeople in the DRC.

“There are a number of areas where South Africa and the DRC could collaborate on. South Africa is committed to working closely with the DRC in ensuring that our bilateral trade relations are strengthened and deepened. At the moment, trade between the two countries skewed in favour of South Africa as we export goods and services to the DRC to the value of R13 billion while very little in coming from DRC into SA. The trade imbalance between the two countries needs to address.  That is the reason why as a country we are committed to putting a lot of emphasis  on enhancing our economic cooperation, fast-tracking identified areas of support, and looking at infrastructure projects that we would like to work closely with the DRC on,” said Hoosen.

According to Hoosen, infrastructure projects that companies in the two countries could collaborate on include Grand Inga Hydro power project, transportation, logistics, supply chain and improving the standards and quality, energy, telecommunications, ports and social infrastructure.

“Companies that form part of the delegation on this ITI possess skills and expertise in various areas and could contribute significantly to the growth and development of the DRC economy if partnerships and joint ventures were established and work begun,” said Hoosen.

He added that the ITI was also part of the pursuance of the four areas of economic development that the African ministers of trade have agreed upon. These are regional integration, infrastructure development, mineral beneficiation and building the agro-processing value chain.

Hoosen said the Industrial Development Cooperation (IDC), Export Credit Insurance Corporation (ECIC) and the Development  Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) are some of the institutions that are tasked with the responsibility of playing a critical role in the reconstruction and development of the DRC economy.

He also indicated that an official from Brand South Africa was also part of the delegation and would hold a meeting with the Congolese Department of Communications with the aim of sharing ideas on future collaborations in regard to marketing the two countries to the world as investment destinations of choice.