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Date : 13/11/2003
Source: Department of Health
Title: Van Schalkwyk: Addressing to business leaders in Rotterdam, Netherlands


EXTRACT FROM SPEECH BY WESTERN CAPE PREMIER, MARTHINUS VAN SCHALKWYK, ADDRESSING BUSINESS LEADERS IN ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS, AS PART OF THE SOUTH AFRICA WEEK CELEBRATIONS ON 13 NOVEMBER 2003

Western Cape and the Netherlands: Opportunities for Growth and Development

The Western Cape stands at an important threshold. We will, tomorrow, open our Provincial Growth and Development Summit in Cape Town.

Bringing together the four main social partners in our economy - business, labour, civil society and government. The summit is a manifestation of our single-minded commitment to ensure sustained, long-term economic growth and job creation. It is also a clear signal to our trade, tourism and investment partners that our Western Cape communities are united in our determination to build a World Class Province, with world class opportunities, that cares for all its people.

One of the keys to our growth strategy is to bring new international investment and tourism to the Western Cape. Our invitation to the world is based not on any sort of moral obligation towards Africa, but entirely on the merits of the Cape. The best remedy to Afro-pessimism is to demonstrate African success.

We are fortunate to have a strong economic base and successful track-record upon which to build this growth. With one of the fastest growing economies of the nine provinces in South Africa the Western Cape grew at an average annual rate of 3,3% between 1995 and 2001 driven largely by our financial, real estate, business services, transport and communications sectors, which together accounted for almost 75% of that growth. In 2002 we experienced real GDP growth of 2,8% with a Gross Regional Product of R150 billion (about Euro 18,75 billon).

Investing in the Western Cape makes excellent business sense - a stable investment climate linked to the people, the skills and the infrastructure that will assure potential investors a good return on their investment.

Last year was also a period of phenomenal export growth in the Western Cape with a year-on-year increase of 48,4% - double the South African national export growth of 24,2% for the same period. Since 1996 the value of Western Cape exports has more than tripled to over R28,4 billion (roughly Euro 3,55 billion) - increasing the share in our national exports from 7,4% to 9,1%.

With 7 of the Western Cape's Top 10 export destinations in Western Europe, much of this growth has been generated in these markets. Exports to the Netherlands alone amounted to R1,6 billion in 2001 and increased markedly in 2002 to more than R2,2 billion (16% of all our European exports), making the Netherlands our third biggest exporting destination behind the United Kingdom and the USA. In just ten years, South African wines from the Cape have become the second most imported wines in the Netherlands, with other products like fruit and olive rapidly gaining market share. Similarly imports from the Netherlands totaled R366,3 million in 2001 and increased to R513,5 million in 2002.

We know that the renewed strength of the Rand against other major currencies poses a challenge to these export figures in 2003 - but equally true is that the currency strength makes long-term fixed investment in South Africa more attractive by removing the need to make higher returns to compensate for possible currency losses.

For the people of the Netherlands particularly there are a number of other important reasons to come to the Cape - both on business and as tourists. Of the 976 000 overseas visitors to the Western Cape in 2002, almost 48 000 were from the Netherlands. Notably the bulk of these tourists (38 387) visited our shores during the first and last quarter of the year - the so-called 'high season'. Only 14.1% and 22.9% of Dutch visitors to South Africa spent time in the Western Cape during the second and third quarter of 2002 - in spite of the fact that many of the best cultural, sporting and entertainment events now occur in these months. This was an indication to us that we must improve our efforts to take the seasonality factor out of Western Cape tourism and marketing. We have taken good strides forward with, inter alia, the launch last month of the first direct non-stop KLM flights to Cape Town, cutting 2,5 hours off the trip.

It is not only through direct investment and tourism though that our Dutch partners are supporting Western Cape growth and development. The new Dutch Cooperation Development Policy has targeted 0,8% of Dutch GDP for assisting developing nations - with half of that budget to be spent on Africa. Land reform projects will be boosted next month when our Western Cape government and the South African-Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (SANEC) formalise projects to promote and expand the farming activities of land reform beneficiaries in the Western Cape. The agreement will be signed in The Hague by Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Johan Gelderblom, who is leading the efforts at "match-making" between emerging farmers in the Western Cape and consumer outlets in EU countries. The agreement will help us to empower emerging producers to compete on equal footing in a highly competitive overseas market.

Our Western Cape Provincial Government is proud of what we have already achieved in our province - lasting political stability, and sound economic fundamentals tempered by a social conscience. We are keenly aware though that foreign investment plays an integral role in the development and growth of any economy, and as we stand on the threshold of our Growth and Development summit it is my pleasure to invite you to be part of our potential and success.

Enquiries: Riaan Aucamp
Cell: 083 778 9923
Issued by: Western Cape Provincial Government
13 November 2003

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