Don’t expect quick gains from Merkel’s visit – business exec

While the visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel sent a positive signal in restoring investor confidence in the country, South Africa should not expect quick wins in the short-term, according to a business executive.

Aspen Pharmacare senior executive Stavros Nicolaou, among 15 top South African business leaders who attended the SA-German business roundtable addressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa and Merkel in Pretoria on Thursday, said benefits emanating from the meeting that saw locals networking with 15 heavyweight German captains of industry, could be realised in the medium to long-term.

He explained: “We have emerged from an era in which there has been an erosion of business confidence in our country. It was during a time that we seemed to have lost the glitter.

“We welcome the visit and interaction with German business people.

“We now have to deal with some key structural issues, like public debt, fiscal consolidation and energy supply. We also have to focus on industries like manufacturing, agribusiness and tourism.

“The president has told Germans that South Africa is open for business and that the country is investor-friendly. That message will go a long way in turning visiting German business people into becoming good ambassadors for South Africa.”

Addressing the business session, Ramaphosa announced that at last year’s second South Africa investment conference, German companies made investment commitments of nearly R11 billion to the local economy.

These, said Ramaphosa, were mainly in the automotive and advanced manufacturing sectors.

“From our discussions earlier today, it is clear that there is solid political will from the leadership of both our countries to ensure that we deepen economic ties.

“As South Africa, we are on a drive to position our country as an investment destination of choice.

“As we move ahead, we want to see investment commitments translating into concrete projects that will have a long-lasting impact, and will transform the lives of our people.

“Our deliberations should contribute to greater trade and more investment opportunities.

“They should contribute to the full implementation of the economic partnership agreement (EPA) between the European Union and the Southern African Development Community,” said Ramaphosa.

He said the EPA ensured that South Africa and German firms benefitted “from enhanced market access, which in turn enables producers and suppliers to tap into regional value chains”.

“It also provides for a number of protective measures to facilitate cross border trade and investment in a manner that assures predictability and certainty.

“I will be particularly keen to see how Germany and South Africa can collaborate in the field of clean and renewable energy.

“Our collaboration is all the more critical as we strive to meet our obligations under the Paris Agreement to combat climate change.

“Low-carbon growth that is climate change resilient is a fundamental tenet of our national development plan and we look eagerly to the enhanced collaboration between local companies and their counterparts in Germany in rolling out appropriate technologies in pursuit of that objective.

“South Africa has established a Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution to guide our transition to the economy of the future.

“We are eager to explore the ways in which emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, biotechnology and many others can be harnessed in pursuit of industrialisation and growth,” added Ramaphosa.

On a crusade to revitalise German trade and investment in sub-Saharan Africa, Merkel will on Friday arrive in Angola for talks with President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço.

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