Cooperation of South Africa and Germany on South African Business Forum
On November 9th 2015 South African President Jacob Zuma Visited the Embassy of South Africa in Berlin
November 16th, 2015
In Berlin, on 9th November 2015, during the visit of South African President Jacob Zuma to Germany, he visited the South African Embassy in Berlin for the South African Business Forum held by the South African Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies.
Dr Rob Davies is serving his second term as Minister of Trade and Industry, having been appointed to this position in May 2014. During his first term from 2009-2014, he oversaw the development and implementation of an annual three year rolling Industrial Policy Action Plan as well as steering South Africa's participation in important trade relations, including the Tripartite SADC-COMESA-EAC Free Trade Area, BRICS, Economic Partnership Agreement with EU, the US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, and World Trade Organization Bali package. Between 2005 and 2008 he was Deputy Minister in the same Department. An ANC MP since 1994, Rob Davies served as Chairperson of the Portfolio Committees of Finance and Trade and Industry as well as the Constitutional Assembly Sub-Committee responsible for drafting Charter 13 (Finance).
Before entering Parliament, Rob Davies was Professor and co-Director of the Centre of Southern African Studies at the University of the Western Cape and before that Professor Auxiliar at the Centro de Estudos Africanos at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique. An anti-apartheid activist for many years, Rob Davies joined both the ANC and the SACP while in exile in Mozambique. He is currently a member of the Central Committee of the SACP and of the National Executive Committee of the ANC. Academically he holds an Honours degree in Economics from Rhodes University, a Masters in International Relations from the University of Southampton in the UK and a Doctorate in Political Studies from the University of Sussex.
At the initiative of the Embassy of South Africa in cooperation with the Africa Association of German industry, the German Chamber of Commerce and the German Embassy in Pretoria, high-ranking representatives from politics and business met to deepen the discussions on trade relations between South Africa and Germany and on ways to address the conditions and continue to make improvements. Approximately 400 German companies are based in South Africa with employees of around 90,000 people.
South Africa is the most important African industrial site. For Europe and Germany, the Republic of South Africa and especially the Cape region are the most important trading partner s and investment destinations. The Economic Forum was opened by the envoy of the Ambassador Horst Brammer and the German Ambassador in Pretoria Walter Lindner. The keynote speaker was the South African Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies.
References and Links
Przemysław Kołodziejczyk, Berlin Global
