27 companies to represent SA in Moz
A total of 27 South African companies will participate in the 52nd edition of this event in Maputo from August 29 to September 4.
MBOMBELA – The Maputo International Trade Fair (FACIM), which has become a global trade centre to boost economic development, will see a large local representation this year.
A total of 27 South African companies will participate in the 52nd edition of this event in Maputo from August 29 to September 4.
The participation of these South African companies in the popular exhibition is made possible by the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) through its export marketing and investment assistance (EMIA) scheme, with the aim of increasing exports of SA manufactured products to Mozambique.
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The objective of the scheme is to develop export markets for products and services and to recruit new foreign direct investment into the country. The dti minister, Dr Rob Davies said FACIM will expose South African companies to trade and investment opportunities in Mozambique and other countries participating in the exhibition.
“The dti is striving to facilitate economic development through promoting outward investment, intra-Africa trade, regional industrialisation and infrastructure development within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and the rest of Africa. FACIM will be a good platform to promote South African manufactured products in the Mozambican market and beyond,” said Davies.
Last year the trade fair attracted 680 foreign companies as compared to 651 in 2014. A total of 31 countries participated in trade fair last year and 26 in 2014. The event does not only attract countries from SADC region, but it has become global.
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Other countries that participated in FACIM 2015 include Germany, Brazil, Italy, France, Spain, Macau, Indonesia, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Turkey, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. Davies adds that one of the dti’s strategic goals is to grow the South African manufacturing sector in order to promote industrial development, job creation, investment and exports.
“In order to achieve this objective, the department embarks on international missions and participate in targeted international trade exhibitions in order to promote exports of South African value-added goods and services to increase market share in markets in various regions of the world.
This will enable South African businesses to access global markets which will increase their production, grow the SA economy and create employment,” said Davies. FACIM is an international multisectoral trade fair held annually to showcase Mozambique as an attractive destination for trade and investment. Mozambique is one of SA’s top-five trade partners in the SADC region.
Trade between the two countries totalled more than R39 billion in 2015.
