South Africa should be looking to have a diversified economy, Trade and Industry (dti) Director General Lionel October said.

“In all efforts, South Africa should be moving away from mainly exporting raw material and start working towards a diversified economy with diversified exports. An unbalanced economy is not sustainable,” said October on Tuesday.

October was speaking at the pre-Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) seminar in Johannesburg.

He said there is a need for South Africa to diversify the economy having seen an increased interest from Japanese companies and banks in using the country as their platform for launching into Africa.

“Our collaboration with the international community, especially Japan, is designed to help us achieve inclusive growth, sustainable development and a prosperous South Africa. Japan has been a long standing investor in South Africa and a major investor in the African continent. In 2011, South Africa managed to attract investments worth $312-million from Toyota and Kansai Paint,’’ said the Director-General.

Yutaka Yoshizawa, the Japanese ambassador to South Africa said there were more than 110 Japanese companies operating in South Africa and the brands were well received in the country.

”These companies have created 150 000 jobs in the country and therefore Japan is looking to increase co-operation assistance in Africa,” he said.

About TICAD

South Africa will participate in the TICAD V conference in Japan from 1 to 3 June 2013.

TICAD was launched in 1993 to promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners. It is co-sponsored and hosted every five years in Tokyo by the Government of Japan, the Global Coalition for Africa (GCA), the United Nation's Office of the Special Advisor on Africa (OSSA), UNDP and the World Bank.

The Department of Trade and Industry will host investment seminars that will be conducted in Japan leading-up to the TICAD event. The seminars will create awareness of opportunities in South Africa and convey critical aspects of South Africa’s business climate.

The commitments made at TICAD IV in 2008 include the doubling of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) to Africa up to $3.4 billion by the end of 2012; and $4 billion to be made available in loans for the development of infrastructure and agriculture.

The commitments also include the use of ODA to encourage Japanese private-sector investment in Africa, with the goal of doubling Japanese foreign direct investment; and establishment of a US$10 billion global financial mechanism to address the effects of climate change.