Issued by: North West Communication Service
Statement by the North West Premier Popo Molefe on his return from official visits to the People's Republic of China, Indonesia and Singapore:
As you are aware, a powerful delegation from the North West has just returned from a five-day official visit to Asia.
Included in my delegation were the North West MEC for Finance and Economic Affairs, Mr Martin Kuscus, the MEC for Safety and Security, Mr Satish Roopa, the Mayor of Potchefstroom, Mr Eric Mothibedi, his Councillors as well as prominent businesspeople in the province. The countries that the delegation visited were the People's Republic of China, Indonesia and Singapore.
The visits were aimed at enhancing trade and investment between those three countries and the North West Province. And without a shadow of doubt, the visits were highly successful. We have moved decisively to improve the economic performance of the North West Province by facilitating potentially major investments in the province.
Apart from the Dragon City Project, which you are all aware of, we have also created areas of conjunction between China, Indonesia and Singapore in the engineering and technical fields.
Yes, the Dragon City Project, to be based outside Potchefstroom, is a milestone in our quest to create a better life for all.
However, I must stress that the project is a private initiative and my provincial government's role is to tender the necessary assistance and closely monitor the project.
In addition, we have also facilitated interaction between businesspeople in our province and forty-four associations of faster economic development in the province.
In Indonesia, we held discussions with the Director General for General Administration and Provincial Autonomy, the State Minister Coordinator for Production and Distribution and the Vice Governor for Economic and Development Affairs of West Java.
In Singapore, a multi-agency presentation by the Singapore Trade Development Board, the Singapore Economic Development Board and other agencies illustrated strongly their keen interest in entering into an economic pact with the North West.
We, in our delegation, are all agreed that the visits to the three countries were extremely informative and beneficial for the creation of faster economic development in the province.
I thank you.
Issued by the North West Communication Service. 29 August 1996