DAVOS-KLOSTERS, January 19 (ANA) – South African Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, who is leading a 60-strong country delegation to the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, on Thursday said that the message carried to the international investment community had been very well received.
On day two of the four-day WEF Annual Meeting, Ramaphosa said Team SA had acquitted itself “extremely well” in selling the country.
“The message that has been put forward by Team SA has been positively received, we’ve exuded a very positive disposition here, we have had a very strong message, a very positive message, which has basically been saying that South Africa is open for business, South Africa is open for engagement, South Africa is open for dialogue on any issue,” Ramaphosa told the African News Agency (ANA) during an interview on the sidelines of the WEF meeting.
Ramaphosa said there was not a single negative note from the South African delegation which comprised several senior ministers, leading lights from the South African business world and representation from labour and civil society.
“Each one of us has done our sales job extremely well,” he said. “So we have all been the sales men and sales women of our country and that is what has stood our country in good stead.”
Ramaphosa said he had already interacted with a number of people in Davos who were all “very positive” about South Africa.
“I did not encounter any negativity towards our country, including the IMF (International Monetary Fund),” he said. “The IMF are saying we are operating in a weak economic growth climate across the globe, and that we need to attend to a few things that they believe will generate growth in our economy.
“So the investors that we have met have all been very positive. The heads of government that I have met are very positive about South Africa, so I did not pick up any negativity about South Africa.”
Despite projections of low economic growth around the one percent mark, an upbeat Ramaphosa said: “We are hoping that our economy will grow, and if it grows at 1.3%, 1.5%, it is still growth. It is not negative growth.”
He added that it was important to unlock more levers of growth “because we have got to come up with new drivers of growth in our economy”.
South Africa is seeking foreign investment to help drive economic growth and is using the platform of WEF to market the country as a favourable investment destination.
– African News Agency (ANA)
