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Introduction

Today's event is an exciting occasion. It is the culmination of several months of work by Ntsika and Unctad. It brings together a number of people involved in international trade - Trade Point directors from 16 countries in Africa, trainers, support organisations, government officials, bands and export service organisation. I would like to thank those involved in this event for bringing it together and the EU through the trade and investment development programme for their sponsorship. I hope that we achieve the outcomes of this Forum.

This Forum is about African countries, through their Trade Points, coming together to co-operate in trade. It falls squarely into the New Africa Initiative. The New Africa initiative is about African countries developing a common vision to eradicate poverty and to place our countries both individually and as a group on a path of sustainable growth and development. We will need to do this while participating actively in the world economy.

The New Africa Initiative calls for a reversal of the poverty and underdevelopment that has plagued Africa. It will allow for Africa to become an active political and economic player. We need to use the resources and potential that Africa holds to develop ourselves.

There are many resources such as minerals, plants, beautiful terrain, strong cultures and people. These have the potential for many opportunities in manufacturing, tourism, agriculture and mining. It will not be easy to compete with the developed countries; however, the best way to compete with them is co-operate amongst ourselves. We should be taking advantage of the new technologies that are available so that we can communicate more and better.

There are many structural problems that our economies face - outflows of capital, lack of investment finance, depreciating currencies, unfavourable terms of trade, widespread poverty, poor physical infrastructure and more. Such problems make the entry into the global economy difficult but it makes it all the more necessary for collective action as a continent. Overcoming these problems and improvements in living standards offer massive potential for growth in all our economies through the creation of new markets and an increase in economic capacity.

The New Africa Initiative has a strong programme of action. One of the elements is to improve the trade relations between African countries to promote growth. We will be working at a government-to-government level to improve regional trade agreements. The benefits of regional trade come from spending our resources in Africa, circulating the wealth, and generating new opportunities - rather than spending our resources to promote growth in the developed countries. There are many African businesses that are just as good as those in the developed countries. We often tend to undermine ourselves and think that it is not as good if it comes from Africa. We need to change that perception both in Africa and in the rest of the world. If this means that our businesses have to work extra hard in the short term to show the rest of the world that they are quality suppliers then they should do so. For us in Africa we will have to work double as hard just to be equal. For the Trade Points it means that you have to ensure that the businesses that you are supporting to do international trade are reliable businesses, offering quality goods and services and can deliver. If they bid or quote for an opportunity through the Trade Point then you must ensure that they can deliver. It they don't then your reputation as a country and as a Trade Point is at risk.

This network of Trade Points offers a vehicle for regional and international trade. We have an opportunity with the Trade Point programme to be part of the New Africa Initiative, to co-operate with each other to improve market access through the sharing of business opportunities, having trade and investment missions, helping businesses with new markets and assisting them to source better input materials. I encourage you to use this week to establish new contacts and to see how you can promote trade between each of your countries - not policies at a government-to-government level, but look at how you can start sharing real business opportunities between each other and organising actual trade missions. This will start setting the agenda for regional co-operation and Africa's growth.

This regional co-operation can take place in a number of different sectors, such as manufacturing, tourism, crafts, environment and information technology. Don't be limited; be entrepreneurial in the support that you give to businesses, find the opportunities for them and help them to grow.

There are dangers in international trade at a micro business level and at a macro economic level. We cannot ignore that a small business can risk everything by taking on large export orders and having a cash flow problem because of delayed payments or long delivery times. There are other dangers as well where unequal trade relations develop. We need to be wary of this and ensure that if we as African countries are to increase the levels of trade we do so in ways that will benefit us and not lead to massive trade and balance of payments deficits, and the resulting currency depreciation that often takes place.

There are also many benefits. One of the issues for South Africa - and is an issue for all African countries - is job creation and poverty reduction. The role trade can play in increasing employment in not only the sectors that are trading but also in the many sectors that support international trade such as finance, transport, insurance, IT and packaging. We look forward to these benefits and will be seeing how the Trade Points can play there role in this.

South Africa is undoubtedly a strong regional player in the area of Trade. We have recently become part of the Trade Point programme and we will be using this opportunity to see how we can start to increase our trade with other African countries. This is not a one-sided arrangement; other African countries have the potential to become suppliers to South Africa. We buy a lot of goods and services from the developed world; there is no reason why if the price is right and the product is good we cannot buy from other countries in Africa. The Trade Points are a good vehicle to find out what South Africa is buying and how businesses can get access to our markets.

On the other side we are also competitive suppliers and with the closer proximity and better understanding of the African market we can replace traditional suppliers in developed economies often with quicker delivery times.

The formation of a strong regional trading block is important. We need to start with promotion of trade amongst each other and then look at going to other markets. This is especially true for smaller businesses; once they have the regional trade right then trade with other regions will be much easier.

Conclusion.

To conclude - I am looking forward to an exciting and dynamic African Trade Point Forum. I hope that by the end of this week the Trade Point Forum walks away with more information, networks created and real trade opportunities. We cannot allow this Forum to be just an interesting information session we must get something out of it and hope that on Thursday you establish a strong regional Trade Point structure that will be able to continue with the regional Trade Point co-operation efforts. I would like to see this structure taking the issues that I have discussed today and really doing things to promote trade - it is a priority. Now is the time for an African Renaissance, now is the time for African co-operation.

Thank you.

Issued by Ministry of Trade and Industry

13 August 2001