CLOTHING retailer Foschini will buy garments from small local manufacturers, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies has said.

Delivering his budget vote speech in Parliament last week, Davies described this as a major breakthrough in the revival of the local clothing and textile sector.

"This is the sort of commitment to our local economy that we need," he said.

Davies said that in spite of coinciding with the global economic crisis, the Clothing and Textile Competitiveness Improvement Programme had not only stalled employment losses in 2010 but also led to a modest increase in employment in 2011.

He said in the automotive sector, the transition from the Motor Industry Development Programme to the Automotive Production and Development Programme by 2013 had largely been completed.

This, Davies said, would help to build sufficient confidence in SA's capabilities and policies, even in the midst of global stagnation, to support over R15-billion investment commitments from both assemblers and component suppliers.

"These include investments by major international companies such as Ford, VW and Daimler Chrysler. This has been accompanied by increases in the number of vehicles assembled locally and by the production of component parts in SA," he said.

A third main area of progress, according to Davies, was the significant advances that had been made in the Business Process Services sector, with a number of foreign companies setting up operations in SA over the last year, and creating over 1000 new jobs. - I-Net Bridge