Mbeki, investment council in talks
15 May 2006South Africa does not have "permanent" negative features that can impede government’s efforts to attract foreign investment into the country, says President Thabo Mbeki.
He was speaking at a media briefing following a three-day meeting of the International Investment Council (IIC) in Magaliesburg, north of Johannesburg, on Sunday.
A group of advisers had told the president that government needed to communicate continuously on specific problems it experienced.
"We are interested in their view about how the rest of the world sees South Africa, their view about what we can do to achieve the objectives we have set ourselves of higher growth," said Mbeki.
"The sense I get is that these perceptions move from day-to-day, it is not like there is a fixed permanent negative view of South Africa by the rest of the world," Mbeki told reporters.
He said that negative perceptions were caused "by the things that change from day-to-day."
One of these issues was the power problem affecting the Western Cape. This, he said "became an issue because it happened around the same time when there was global discussions of energy security."
The Western Cape has recently experienced blackouts caused by damage to a unit of the nuclear reactor at Koeberg, near Cape Town.
Mbeki said the challenge was how to respond to those problems speedily when they arose.
Mbeki said that the members of the Investment Council had not been saked to mobilise investment funds for South Africa, saying that it was their role.
Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa said the Council noted economic growth over the last 12 to 24 months as "illustrative of the country’s solid economic fundamentals" coupled with sound economic management.
He said there were specific presentations and discussions on jobs for growth as part of the objectives of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (Asgi-SA).
There were also discussions on the Japanese experience on small, medium and micro-sized enterprises, the global energy situation and the Doha round of negotiations at the World Trade Organisation.
There was also a report on the country’s experience in the implementation of the African Peer Review Mechanism and the Soccer World Cup to be hosted by South Africa in 2010.
"Members expressed their appreciation at the focused nature of the discussions, which is a reflection of the evolution of the Council into a body combining reflections on general strategic issues and discussion on concrete challenges and solution," said Mpahlwa.
Source: BuaNews
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