President Cyril Ramaphosa said that he hoped that South Africa’s visit to West Africa this week will result in more businesses from the region investing in the country.
He has stressed that this will change the current status quo which has seen a “one-way” arrangement of South African companies investing in the west of the continent and not the other way round.
The president, along with a delegation of businesspeople and ministers among others, is in Abuja, Nigeria on Wednesday and will travel to the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Senegal thereafter.
President Ramaphosa is a proponent of the African Continental Free Trade Area, which has not seen an enthusiastic uptake among all countries, particularly Nigeria.
This is despite the balance of the South Africa–Nigeria bilateral trade favouring the latter due to oil imports.
Meanwhile, Pretoria’s investments to Nigeria is made up of 48 companies, including MTN, Remgro and Pick n Pay holdings, worth more than R3.4 billion in capital expenditure.
Ramaphosa said that the bilateral engagements which will be held will improve on these.
“A number of our own companies are in place, state-owned companies as well, some are in infrastructure, some are in agriculture and some are in trade, so these are the deals that we want to finalize with these countries and to be able to open channels of trade, channels of investment,” the president said.
The South African delegation will be meeting with their Nigerian counterparts on Wednesday when the West African state’s President Muhammadu Buhari hosts Ramaphosa.
-EWN
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