South Africa and France held economic deliberations in Cape Town today. Following the discussions‚ Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies and his French counterpart Matthias Fekl signed a communiqué in Parliament.
The Joint Economic Committee‚ established in 1995‚ was revived in 2013‚ to promote and strengthen trade and industrial co-operation between the two countries.
Among the issues discussed between the French and South African delegations during the “intense” discussions were issues around energy and green energy‚ agribuisness‚ and transportation and infrastructure.
Fekl welcomed the “fruitful” engagements coming out of the discussions: “23 000 direct jobs have so far been created by French companies in South Africa and a further 30 000 are expected to be created in the Alstom‚ Prasa contract“.
Davies said: “France is our third largest trading partner in the European Union. Our trade has pretty well recovered to the levels it was at 2008. It is a matter of regret on our side that our exports have not reached that level yet“.
Total trade between the two countries climbing to R33 billion last year‚ from about R23 billion in 2009.
South Africa exports vehicles‚ machinery‚ turbo-jets and aircraft parts to France‚ while France is known for pharmaceutical and chemicals exports to South Africa.
Energy a topic at 'intense' France-SA talks
South Africa and France held economic deliberations in Cape Town today. Following the discussions‚ Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies and his French counterpart Matthias Fekl signed a communiqué in Parliament.
The Joint Economic Committee‚ established in 1995‚ was revived in 2013‚ to promote and strengthen trade and industrial co-operation between the two countries.
Among the issues discussed between the French and South African delegations during the “intense” discussions were issues around energy and green energy‚ agribuisness‚ and transportation and infrastructure.
Fekl welcomed the “fruitful” engagements coming out of the discussions: “23 000 direct jobs have so far been created by French companies in South Africa and a further 30 000 are expected to be created in the Alstom‚ Prasa contract“.
Davies said: “France is our third largest trading partner in the European Union. Our trade has pretty well recovered to the levels it was at 2008. It is a matter of regret on our side that our exports have not reached that level yet“.
Total trade between the two countries climbing to R33 billion last year‚ from about R23 billion in 2009.
South Africa exports vehicles‚ machinery‚ turbo-jets and aircraft parts to France‚ while France is known for pharmaceutical and chemicals exports to South Africa.
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