South Africa plans big investment pitch at WEF Davos summit

South Africa has lined up a big delegation led by President Cyril Ramaphosa for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Swiss resort town of Davos next week, where it will make a major pitch to attract global investments into the country.

The primary objective of the South African delegation will be to strengthen partnerships and collaboration for inclusive economic growth and development in South Africa, A South Africa government statement said.

A particular emphasis would be on increasing international investment into the country, it added.

The five-day WEF Annual Meeting will begin on Monday and is likely to be attended by over 3,000 leaders from across the world, including India. These would include government leaders, policymakers, CEOs as also people from civil society, media, entertainment, academia and other fields.

“We are going to Davos to interact with potential investors. We are competing with other emerging markets where there is an oasis of investment opportunities for global investors and it’s where we want to be seen to be investing,” President Ramaphosa said.

He said the delegation in Davos will “speak with one language and the same message that South Africa is like a plane that is getting ready to take off“.

He was addressing the ‘Team South Africa’, comprising government ministers and business leaders who will be accompanying him as part of the delegation.

The team is looking to build on the response the government had got at its investment conference in October last year where 290 billion South African rand were pledged for future investments.

“We are on the right track. We had to deal with very difficult challenges in the past but those are challenges we are finding solutions to. We must put our best foot forward, we must go and engage the world with great confidence knowing we are representing this great country.

“We are going to start seeing improved growth in our economy and I think we can go with our heads held high, without arrogance, to tell our story, what we have done and how we have made progress,” the president said.

The government said the Davos event will be used to explore new avenues to help enable the country to achieve the president’s investment target of $ 100 billion in next five years.

““We have turned the corner, it is a new Dawn. We can confidently go back and say, remember what we told you, this is what we have done. As I often say, we are like a plane about to take off,” Ramaphosa said.

The president and other delegation members are expected to meet a large number of leaders from across the world, including from the business community.

The delegation would include ministers of finance, international relations and cooperation, trade and industry, public enterprises, economic development, communications and health.

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