Export councils’ major driver for SA’s transformation: dti

Aug 27, 2018: Lerato Mataboge, deputy director-general for trade and investment South Africa at the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) said that the export councils are major driver for South Africa’s economic transformation, they should be supported and prioritised. 

During the two-day export council quarterly meeting in Preto, Mataboge said, “As government, we need to look at our efficiencies in so far as how we are structured, and the support that is provided to export councils and vice versa. We also need to determine if we are really working cohesively and supporting each other in accessing new markets, determining the strategy for which markets are a priority for the country and determining which companies and exporters need what kind of support.”

She said that the clusters would enable the government and export councils to have an impact on the continent, in the BRICS economies, and the broader global market.

“Export councils together with the dti need to find a niche in order to have a say in the Presidential US$6.98bn investment drive because investments and exports are intertwined. We also have to have a relook at the Integrated National Export Strategy in light of the six percent per annum export target that the National Development Plan has set for us,” she stated.

Mataboge added that there was a need to discuss the recommendation of the Integrated National Export Strategy, and consider having a National Export Act that will pull together all the elements that speak to exports and the role of the export councils.