The week-long investment mission by South Africa to Japan has been described as successful, with several companies expressing their interest to invest in SA.
The mission was led by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) and it included Presidential Investment Envoy, Phumzile Langeni and the CEO of Business Leadership South Africa, Bonang Mohale. The mission was part of government’s investment drive to attract $100 billion worth of investments in the next five years.
“I am pleased that the many Japanese companies we met are keen to invest in South Africa and others are interested in expanding their investments.
“We were able to address the concerns of investors about the South African investment environment and policy. We also assured them that the country’s investment policy development process was aimed at bringing policy certainty in order to enhance the country’s investment climate,” said Invest South Africa acting head Yunus Hoosen on Sunday.
Hoosen said the Japanese companies were also happy to hear about the investment opportunities, programmes and incentives provided by government to attract foreign investors to the country.
The majority of the Japanese companies were impressed by the Special Economic Zones that offer attractive packages to investors to set up plants in the zones located in various parts of South Africa.
Hoosen said he was encouraged by the fact that the Japanese companies are looking at South Africa as a key location in Africa and therefore want to expand and increase their investments to service other parts of the continent.
“Some of the Japanese companies are already cooperating with us in areas such as supplier development, empowerment initiatives and the automotive sector, as well as in the development of our energy, ICTs, telecommunications, water and rail infrastructure.”
The programme of the mission included an investment seminar that was attended by more than 200 potential Japanese investors. – SAnews.gov.za
