Bid to build agriculture, mining ties with Saudi Arabia
THE RECENT mining indaba could hold spin-offs not only for the energy sector, but for agriculture and food security.
Agriculture Minister Senzeni Zokwana said the South African government could consider leasing land to Saudi Arabia for agricultural projects. Speaking at the Mining Indaba, Zokwana said the two countries already had strong economic ties.
Just last month, Energy Minister Jeff Radebe announced Saudi Arabia’s $10 billion (R136bn) investment in South Africa would include a new crude oil refinery and petrochemical plant.
Saudi Arabia currently supplies at least 40% of South Africa’s crude oil.
Zokwana said the governments were looking beyond oil deals to also explore food security.
“We have land lying unused. We will make an agreement that is good for our country. Agriculture can grow our economy and jobs,” said Zokwana.
“We can agree on what products our farmers can produce and sell to Saudi Arabia. We may also look at leasing land. We can’t sell land. We can lease it to foreign countries for agricultural use.”
Saudi Arabia was lobbing hard at the annual mining meeting in Cape Town. It sought new investors and gathered government and business leaders at a cultural evening where its cuisine, music and art were on show.
Khalid Al-Mudaifer, Saudi Arabia Vice-Minister for Industry, Energy, and Mineral Resources, said they were “one of the world’s last major mining growth players”.
“The future looks bright… We are now the world’s third largest phosphate supplier,” he said at the Mining Idaba. “Our research suggests the total potential value for mining exceeds $1.3 trillion. We could achieve tremendous growth in metals.”
The country was moving beyond exploiting its oil reserves and looking into other under-explored mining opportunities, he said.
Ghorm Malhan, Saudi Arabia Ambassador to South Africa, said they would “expedite visa applications to enable ease of travel for business purposes” for South African companies.
Locals and mining companies have been in the Saudi mining sector since the 1980s when gold mining began.
Khalid al-Sharif, director for strategy and business planning at Ma’aden, mining company, said locals were working as “engineers, geologists and in other fields in our mining sector”.
“In gold, we are growing very fast. We have a South African company running one of the largest gold mines in our country. We are exporting gold worldwide and we work with South Africa because it is a gateway to Africa,” said al-Sharif.