Wesgro CEO, Tim Harris welcomed this announcement and hoped that President Ramaphosa would consider hosting it in Cape Town - Africa’s leading conferencing destination: “Cape Town and the Western Cape would be excited to host the proposed investor conference, and Wesgro is looking forward to participating, in line with our mandate to promote investment into the Western Cape.
"A key focus must be on shifting the international perception of investing in South Africa, which has recently been negative. To ensure that this happens, structural reforms will be needed to ensure that our credit ratings improve as soon as possible.”
Wesgro also welcomes Ramaphosa’s focus on tourism – a key sector that has enormous potential to boost growth and create jobs. Tourism in the Western Cape supports over 300,000 jobs and contributes nearly R40bn to the provincial economy.
Harris added that South Africa’s natural beauty, as Ramaphosa expressed, has given us a strong foundation to grow this even further: “We agree with President Ramaphosa that South Africa is the most beautiful country in the world and that we should be more ambitious in growing this sector.
“Together with South African Tourism, we have been working hard to send out the message that Cape Town and the Western Cape are open for businesses, and we are determined to ensure that we continue to grow this sector, even in the face of our severe drought. We hope that President Ramaphosa will focus on removing problematic hurdles that have inhibited the growth of tourism, specifically, the visa regulations.”
Western Cape minister of economic opportunities, Alan Winde said: “Our number one goal is to grow the economy and create jobs. Central to achieving this is the attraction of domestic and foreign investment through the creation of an enabling environment for business, backed by a responsive and accountable state. We welcome President Ramaphosa’s understanding of the need to actively open our doors to business, and look forward to a successful summit.”
“We were also very happy to hear that President Ramaphosa wants to focus on tourism. Through Project Khulisa, we have already seen substantial gains in job creation in this sector, and look forward to sharing our experiences with the President” concluded Winde.
