MINISTER LEADING THE DELEGATION OF FIFTY ONE

The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mzwandile Masina has arrived in Shanghai, China where he is leading a delegation of fifty-one South African businesspeople on the fourth leg of the South African Expos in China.

Masina will visit Shanghai Free Trade Zone and the Shanghai Zhanjiang Hi-Tech Park. He will also officially open the South Africa exhibition where South African companies will be showcasing their products and services and deliver the key-note address at a trade and investment seminar which will be attended by potential investors from China, He will also engage with potential investors in the electronic, textile, agro-processing and mining sectors on the side-lines of the expos.

The expos which have already been hosted in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Chengdu; and will take place in Shanghai today before the final leg in Beijing next week. The expos are a project undertaken to execute South Africa’s strategic objectives focussing on the Top 10 value added products and investment projects; and seeks to promote engagements, enhance exports and to increase market penetration into China.

 “South Africa’s major exports to China have traditionally been mining products, iron and steel, heavy chemicals and nonferrous metals exports in the region of $5 billion a year and through these expos and the companies that we brought, we hope to change this tradition,” says Masina.

He adds that the Top 10 identified products cut across different sectors of the economy as outlined in the Industrial Policy Action Plan leaving considerable growth scope for South Africa to diversify its export base to China.