THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
31. Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Trade and Industry:
(1) Whether he has been informed that (a) only locally recruited
marketing officers and not departmentally appointed trade
representatives are stationed in (i) Bangkok and (ii) Singapore
and (b) neither marketing officers nor trade representatives are
currently stationed at (i) Jakarta and (ii) Kuala Lumpur; if
not,
(2) whether he intends to investigate the matter; if not, why not;
if so, what are the relevant details;
(3) what are the reasons for not appointing adequately trained (a)
marketing officers and (b) trade representatives at missions
within (i) the Southeast Asian economic bloc and (ii) other
missions globally;
(4) whether he intends taking any corrective steps to rectify the
shortages of adequately trained (a) marketing officers and (b)
trade representatives at missions within (i) the Southeast Asian
economic bloc and (ii) other missions globally; if not, why not;
if so, what are the relevant details;
(5) whether he has found that his department is doing enough to
assist in the facilitation of trade with the Southeast Asian
economic bloc; if not, how was this conclusion reached; if so,
what are the relevant details? NW33E
Reply:
Question 1
The Minister is aware of the staff complement and global footprint of
offices managed by the dti, in this regard (a) only locally recruited
marketing officers and not departmentally appointed trade representatives
are stationed in (i) Bangkok and (ii) Singapore and that (b) neither
marketing officers nor trade representatives are currently stationed at (i)
Jakarta and (ii) Kuala Lumpur.
Question 2
The existence of Foreign Economic Offices is a factor of matching the
Departmentâs available resource in an effective way with those markets that
shows the highest potential emanating from the considered methodology. The
selection of Foreign Economic Offices is based on a prioritisation of those
markets with the largest potential for South Africa from an investment and
export perspective and key considerations such as regional integration,
South Africaâs role in Africa and important economic groupings such as
BRICS. the dti has a mandate to service new high growth markets as well as
those traditional markets which have been and still are important business
partners to South Africa, albeit at a lower growth rate, such as the US,
Japan, Germany and the UK. South Africaâs inclusion into BRICS lends an
added impetus for focus on countries such as Brazil, India, Russia and
China.
This is due to the untapped potential for collaboration not just from a
bilateral trade and investment flow perspective, but from the perspective
of African opportunities. As it stands 36% of our trade is with traditional
partners, (EU and US), 21 % Africa BRICS 22 % and Asia 21 ( excluding China
and India) As new trading patterns emerge, we cannot ignore the
importance of China and India as key markets in Asia exhibiting impressive
annual export growth rates. South Africaâs exports to key developing
countries of the South in 2011/12 increased by over 5%. Of the R6.42
billion export sales facilitated by the dti, 47% was from Africa and the
Middle East and 15% from Asia. In terms of an investment pipeline of
potential projects of R 40.91 Billion an amount of R 14.81 Billion has been
recorded representing 36.2 % from developing countries which include China,
India, South Korea, Singapore and Russia. Within this context we believe
an investigation is not appropriate.
Question 3
Based on the budget provided to the dti (R117 Million 2012/ 2013), it
currently manages 29 Foreign Economic Offices abroad. Due to limited
resources, it is not possible to be represented in every market, however
the dti collaborates closely with DIRCO offices to provide support on
economic matters. The lack of an economic office does not mean that these
lucrative opportunities in these markets have been ignored. The rise of the
global South is an opportunity that the dti is harnessing and various
activities have been embarked on annually in the aforementioned markets.
The global footprint covers Africa (10) Asia (7), Middle East (2), Europe
(4), North America (1), South America (1) and Multi-lateral offices (4).
Question 4
To complement the existing global footprint TISA has strategic
relationships and partnerships with counterpart agencies in these countries
such as MATRADE and MIDA in Malaysia, BOI in Thailand, Indonesia Investment
Coordinating Board, EDB and IE in Singapore. In the past year a number of
high level business delegations were facilitated between TISA and
counterpart agencies on a reciprocal basis. TISA recently facilitated the
establishment of IE Singapore offices in South Africa. The intent of IE
Singapore is to support Singapore investment into South Africa and vice
versa. Furthermore a number of engagements has been considered with key
countries in Africa and Asia.
Question 5
the dti views South East Asian countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia,
Singapore and Thailand as integral to our market diversification strategy
and as such there is active engagement with these countries on both export
and investment related programmes. South East Asian countries are
recognised as a model for regional cooperation and integration from which
the dti has learnt through years of active engagement with countries such
as Malaysia and Singapore. the dti regularly participates in trade
exhibitions and missions in these countries (e.g. Defence Services Asia:
Malaysia in 2012, investment recruitment mission to Singapore in 2011).
Furthermore, the Minister undertook an official visit to Indonesia in 2012,
to revive and dynamise the Joint Trade Committee (JTC). An outcome of these
efforts is that the JTC will re-convene in South Africa later this year.
This intensification of trade initiatives with Indonesia highlights the
systematic attention being given to deepen trade links with this key
economy
One of the notable successes of participating at Defence Services Malaysia
was with Denel signing a R3.5 billion contract with the Malaysian
Government to supply defence equipment. This year, Outward Selling Missions
have been planned for Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, in order
to leverage opportunities in these markets for agro-processing, capital
equipment, electro-technical and other sectors. South Africa also engages
closely with the economic agencies of these countries to collaborate on
mutually beneficial projects.