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The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies says the government is committed to working with all stakeholders and partners to make sure that 1.2 million vehicles are produced in South Africa a year by 2020. Minister Davies was delivering a pre-recorded address through video to delegates at the South African Automotive Week Conference in Port Elizabeth today.
 
“The realisation of the target of producing 1.2 million vehicles per year by 2020 depends on the contribution of all the stakeholders in the automotive sector. It is not just the target of the Department of Trade and Industry, but it is a target that has been agreed upon by all stakeholders in the motor industry. It is the target that guides the implementation of the new Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP) that is administered by the Department but its realisation depends on us working together,” said Davies.
 
He added that the conference could not have come at a more opportune time as it was the last year before the transition from the Motor Industry Development Programme to the APDP, which will be implemented from January 2013. Minister Davies announced that final discussions on the new programme will be held this week and expressed confidence that it would be successfully implemented from next year.
 
“We are attaching special significance to this year’s conference because we are confident that the deliberations and discussions at this conference by the industry stakeholders will enable us to work together in order to achieve the set target, as well as boost the automotive components manufacturing sector and generate employment, all of which are set to be achieved through the new development programme,” said Davies.
 
He emphasised that the automotive industry had very strategic role in manufacturing in South Africa. That strategic role in leveraging the support of the APDP environment needs to be complemented by a complete stakeholder commitment to continously driving competitiveness gains through the SA auto value-chain, in pursuit of the long term targets.
 
“It is the most dynamic sector in manufacturing at the moment, but it also has linkages both backward and forth into the supply chain and also into the after-market and the whole series of other service industry activities that are related to it. It is an industry that has significance beyond its own production and its significance lies in what it generates elsewhere in manufacturing,” said Davies.