Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela is leading a multi-sectoral delegation on a two-week visit to Asia to promote the province as a preferred investment and tourism destination.

The visit by the Eastern Cape delegation comes after Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka paid a working visit to Japan and Indonesia last month.

The Deputy President was there to popularise the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa. Asgisa is aimed at growing the country’s economy to 6% by 2014 with the tackling of the skills shortages that exist in the country, a critical part of the programme.

The visit was also within the country's priority to strengthen North-South and South-South relations for increased market access, trade, investment, sharing of experiences on Small Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) development.

Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad was expected to brief the media on Tuesday, on the outcomes of Ms Mlambo-Nqcuka’s visit to the two countries.

During her visit, the Deputy President had recommended that South African and Japanese universities establish a forum to facilitate partnerships in human resource and skills development in the context of the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa), an initiative set to harness priority skills vital for the country's accelerated and shared growth.

The proposed forum for universities could be held annually in Japan and South Africa on a rotational basis to help achieve these objectives Meanwhile, Balindlela’s spokesperson Phila Ngqumba said the Eastern Cape delegation would visit Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

According to the Premier, the visit is aimed at popularising the projects the province is involved in, in terms of Asgisa and to further profile the Jipsa.

Asgisa identified six factors that constrain growth in the country and skills shortage was one of the key focus areas that needed urgent attention.

“These initiatives will be introduced while investigating the organisation of the informal sector in Indonesia as well as learning about long-term economic planning and growth strategies from Malaysia,” said Balindlela.

The Premier also noted that all sectors of the economy needed to participate in initiatives aimed at marketing the province as an investment destination, hence the multi-sectoral delegation.

She added that in Indonesia, they would focus on the level of maturity of the informal sector there, including coastal tourism, the agrarian society, and the higher education sector, among others.

In Thailand, Balindlela is expected to address businesses there on available investment opportunities in the Eastern Cape.

Government-to-government as well as government-to-business meetings will be arranged to highlight agriculture, tourism and education.

Ngqumba said that in Malaysia, the visit would serve as a follow up to the 2003 provincial study tour to gain insight into how Malaysia developed and implemented long-term economic growth and poverty reduction strategies. – BuaNews