We want greater volumes of trade, and there is lots of room to achieve this goal,” Zuma said.
The President, who is on a two-day state visit to Egypt, was speaking in Cairo at a business summit aimed at setting up firmer business ties between the two African economic partners.
South Africa, he said, provided opportunities for trade and investments in auto motive components, capital equipment, aerospace, energy, chemicals, agro-processing and ICT, among many others.
President Zuma maintained that the rise of emerging markets such as India, Brazil and South Africa, signals a positive trend, arguing that it also supports predictions that the developing world plays an important role in shaping the new world order.
It was estimated that the market size of the developing world would be larger than the developed world by 2020.
Zuma said it was therefore important for developing nations to trade among each other, in addition to trading with the developed North.
Africa was moving beyond conceptualisation and rhetoric, to concrete work that would help end conflicts, alleviate and ultimately eradicate poverty and create decent work that would improve the quality of life, he said.
However, the continent needed to improve its transport infrastructure if it was to reduce its dependence on European markets.
While there was good progress being made in setting up trade accords on the continent, Zuma said, Africa’s poor infrastructure meant that executing the trade and economic goals was difficult.
The President pointed to the fact that flights between many African nations still required layovers in European countries.
“If you wanted to reach some countries on the continent, you'd have to go to Europe first, then sleep on the way, wake up in the morning, wait until sunset and then fly back to Africa. That must come to an end. And nobody else can do it except ourselves,” said Zuma who wraps up his visit today.
The visit will see agreements on tourism, mining, agro-processing, infrastructure and agriculture as well as industrial products signed.
Egypt and South Africa are due to sign a free trade deal that would bring together the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), the 15-country Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African common market. – BuaNews