UK ready to build on new opportunities to grow local trade ties
January’s successful visit to Davos by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Team SA, coupled with the recent changes we’ve seen in Zimbabwe and Angola, have helped to build a sense of excitement around the world about the prospects for Southern Africa in 2018.
There’s a widespread feeling that positive change has arrived and of renewed opportunity for SA and its global friends and partners.
When British Prime Minister Theresa May and Ramaphosa met in Davos, they expressed a shared determination to reinvest in and reinvigorate the already strong UK-SA relationship. And they agreed that we should work hard to ready ourselves to take advantage of the opportunities arising from the UK’s exit from the EU.
I’m therefore delighted, at this moment of optimism, to have been appointed by May as her new trade envoy to SA and to be visiting for the first time in that capacity this week. It is a great privilege to be asked to take on this role, and I look forward to playing my own part in building a UK-SA business relationship fit for the future.
We have much to do, and much to do together. We in the UK are now moving ahead with the second phase of negotiations on our departure from the EU. Over the coming weeks we are going to be working to formalise the withdrawal agreement reached by EU leaders in December and to negotiate the terms of an implementation or transition period to ensure that the process of leaving is as smooth as possible.
As we do so, we’re very mindful of the importance of ensuring that there’s no disruption to our existing trade with partners outside the EU like SA when we leave. Indeed, this has been a priority for us ever since our referendum, which I know UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond made clear when he visited SA in late 2016, and Secretary of State for Trade Liam Fox reaffirmed here last autumn.
With our partners in the South African Department of Trade and Industry and their counterparts from other Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) states, we’ve been working hard and at speed to this end. Our shared goal is to replicate the terms of the existing economic partnership agreement between the EU and the Sacu states plus Mozambique, a process known in the jargon as “transitional adoption”.
I’m happy to say that we are as far advanced with this work on the EU-Sacu economic partnership agreement as with any other such global agreement. But of course we need to keep up the momentum, conscious that we will be leaving the EU in March 2019. So I look forward to discussing this and wider opportunities with Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies and his team.
It is appropriate to be starting my visit in Cape Town. Not just because it’s the week of the Mining Indaba but because this province has especially strong economic ties to the UK. The UK is the largest source of tourism to SA and of the 400,000 Brits who visit annually an estimated 300,000 spend time in the Western Cape.
The UK is a leading market for wine, fruit and other agricultural produce from the province. And there are fastgrowing ties in financial and professional services and in new industries such as fintech and education tech.
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THERE’S A WIDESPREAD FEELING THAT POSITIVE CHANGE HAS ARRIVED, AND OF RENEWED OPPORTUNITY FOR SA
Regional development organisation Wesgro has been admirably energetic and proactive in seeking to attract UK investment and I look forward to building on that partnership while I’m here.
I’ll also be visiting Durban, where the city and province have been building a new link to the northeast of England.
I hope that my visit can help push this forward and that it will bear economic fruit in the coming years. Just as we want to build business ties with all parts of SA, we also want to ensure that all parts of the UK are looking at the opportunities here.
The UK-SA economic relationship has been strong for years. But I’ve no doubt that there is much more upside potential and that this is a good time to inject fresh energy and momentum behind it. It’s an important moment for both our countries, and I look forward to helping build our business ties for the future.