Pretoria - South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has announced that it would be leading a trade delegation to India to help increase South African exports to the Indian market.
The trade delegation, comprising 26 companies, would travel to India to attend the seventh annual Investment and Trade Initiative to India (ITI) from February 22-26 to showcase the best of South African products.
Minister of Trade and Industry Dr Rob Davies said: “The aim for the ITI is to increase South Africa's exports of value-added products into the Indian market and to explore joint-venture opportunities with Indian companies for investment projects. This will, in turn, contribute in meeting the broader objectives of the national industrial policy and the development of the South African economy.”
Davies noted, during the 2010-2014 period, trade between the two countries increased from R42 billion to over R90 billion and exports from South Africa to India during the same period increased from R22 billion to over R40 billion.
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In addition, Davies said the ITI would “increase South Africa's exports of value-added products into the Indian market and explore joint-venture opportunities with Indian companies for investment projects”.
He said India “provides a good platform for South Africa to re-integrate with Western Asia”.
The trade delegation would visit two Indian cities, Hyderabad and New Delhi, which “forms part of the diversification strategy to focus on India as a high growth export market and foreign direct investment source for South Africa”.
Companies which form part of the delegation include those in the agro-processing, chemicals, pharmaceutical, mining and capital equipment (mining equipment, safety equipment) sectors.
AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY