{"id":209446,"date":"2021-11-24T09:52:10","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T07:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/africa-integration-closer-than-ever-president-ramaphosa\/"},"modified":"2021-11-24T09:52:10","modified_gmt":"2021-11-24T07:52:10","slug":"africa-integration-closer-than-ever-president-ramaphosa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/africa-integration-closer-than-ever-president-ramaphosa\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa integration closer than ever – President Ramaphosa"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa says stronger collaborative ties between South Africa and Kenya can have a great impact on Africa\u2019s drive to economic integration through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).<\/p>\n

President Ramaphosa was speaking during the South African- Kenya business forum held alongside the official State Visit of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyetta.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs two leading economies in our respective regions [Southern and Eastern Africa], South Africa and Kenya have a key role to play in driving continental integration.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur existing regional value chains can be integrated by deepening bilateral economic relations, and specifically by more direct collaboration in industrial and infrastructure projects that are of mutual interest,\u201d President Ramaphosa said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The President reflected on the two countries\u2019 long held history in trade and investment with South Africa ranking in the top five of Kenya\u2019s main investors.<\/p>\n

South African companies have invested some R6.84 billion in Kenya; creating at least 2700 jobs in the process.<\/p>\n

The President said this makes the East African country a significant partner in that region.<\/p>\n

\u201cKenya is South Africa\u2019s largest trading partner in Africa outside of the Southern African Development Community and South Africa is the biggest exporter of goods to Kenya on the continent. The depth and breadth of this trade and investment relationship makes Kenya a key partner for South Africa in East Africa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that given the opportunity, South African companies could play a significant role in the realisation of President Kenyatta\u2019s Big Four plan \u201cwhich has a specific focus on the sectors of manufacturing, food security, universal healthcare and affordable housing\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the two countries\u2019 trade relationship must place more emphasis on value adding sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture.<\/p>\n

Trade balance<\/strong><\/p>\n

The President highlighted that the two countries need to share a more balanced trade relationship, which is currently skewed in the favour of South Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to set ambitious targets for increasing imports from Kenya over the next few years. As South Africa, we are committed to improving the levels of intra-African investments by facilitating Kenyan investments into South Africa and by investing in Kenya\u2019s infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call on Kenyan companies\u2026to reach out to their South African counterparts as they search for new markets for their goods and services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On an international scale, President Ramaphosa emphasised that the African continent must provide more goods and services to the world instead of just raw materials.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfrican hands must make the goods and provide the services that Africans use. We must correct the distorted trade relationships that exists between African countries and the rest of the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe can no longer simply be a supplier of raw materials to the world and importers of consumer and capital goods. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provides an opportunity for Africa to redefine its relationship with the rest of the world and meet the needs of our people for decent work and better standards of living,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The President told the business forum delegates that through the AfCFTA, Africa is beginning to realise true integration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe AfCFTA is about using the combination of the continent\u2019s raw materials and industrial capacity, finance, services and infrastructure to produce quality finished goods for local and global markets. It is about creating a market large enough to attract investors from across the world to set up their production facilities on the continent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vision of African integration is closer than it has ever been,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For this to come to fruition, more cooperation is needed not only between the two countries, but with the rest of the continent as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need governments, investors, entrepreneurs and business leaders from different African countries to come together like this, to explore new partnerships and to reach agreements that drive new trade and investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy working together, by recognising the immense potential of our two countries and of the continent that we share, we can build a more inclusive, more resilient and more prosperous future for all our people.\u201d \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Cyril Ramaphosa says stronger collaborative ties between South Africa and Kenya can have a great impact on Africa\u2019s drive to economic integration through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). President Ramaphosa was speaking during the South African- Kenya business forum held alongside the official State Visit of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyetta. \u201cAs two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-209446","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-sanews","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/africa-integration-closer-than-ever-president-ramaphosa.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}