Pretoria - The International Marketing Council of South Africa (IMC) can only reach its goals if all stakeholders such as business, government and civil society respond to a call to collaborate in realising the positioning of South Africa as a globally competitive nation, the body's stakeholder summit in Johannesburg heard.
It was the first of nine such summits to be held in all of the country's nine provinces. All provinces will be visited and Limpopo is next on the list, with a provincial summit scheduled to be held on 26 June in Polokwane.
The IMC was established in 2002 with the primary objective of developing and implementing a pro-active and co-ordinated marketing, communication and reputation management strategies for the country.
Addressing the summit on Tuesday, the Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Dina Pule, said that the branding of South Africa is not a matter of choice but rather a necessity.
It required "the concerted effort" of all stakeholders to achieve any real measure of success.
"Countries all over the world are shaping and re-shaping their national identities as they compete with other nations and regional blocks for power, influence, prestige and wealth," Pule said.
The rapid advancement of globalisation meant that South Africa must fight for its share of attention and respect of the international media, governments and people of other countries.
"South Africa has just gone through four very important stages: it managed a widely acknowledged successful soccer world cup, came through the worldwide recession almost unscathed, became a part of the BRICS group of nations and yet again held free and fair local elections," she said.
A week ago, the IMC met with President Jacob Zuma for a discussion that centred on the need for business and government to work together to promote and market the successes of the country domestically and to the world.
Pule said the meeting affirmed the IMC's mandate, which was to focus on strategic issues relating to reputation and competitiveness of South Africa, both domestically and globally.
