Embassy Activities
ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY ACTIVITIES
During the month of September, the Embassy focused its efforts towards economic diplomacy activities.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) led a SA Team which comprised of delegations from Free State Economic Zone, Mpumalanga Economic Development Zone and Limpopo Economic Development Zone.The first leg of the visit for Team SA was at the Mersin Special Economic Zone.
In Mersin, the team mainly embarked on a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) benchmarking exercise and also held several meetings with industrialists for possible collaborations. For the second leg of the visit, the team split in to two, in order to widely cover as much as possible ground, while in Turkey for a short time.
The Limpopo delegation proceeded from Mersin to Istanbul where several meetings were held with companies in the steel and textile sectors.
The DTI, Mpumalanga Economic Development Agency and the Free State Economic Zone delegation proceeded from Mersin to Ankara for a mini seminar that was organised and facilitated by the Embassy.
Seminar at 1st Industrial Organised Zone in Sincan, Ankara
The South African Embassy in Ankara and the Ankara Chamber of Industry organised a mini business seminar at the 1st Industrial Organised Zone in Sincan on Thursday, 19 September 2019.
The event started with the welcoming remarks delivered by Mr Cüneyt Çalık, Manager of the Industrial Zone and Mr Tshepo Ranamane, First Secretary of South African Embassy.
Mr Ranamane emphasised the importance of considering South Africa for investments, especially given the abundance of opportunities. Mr Maoto Molefane, the Chief Director for Special Economic Zones-SEZ, Ministry of Trade and Industry who led an official delegation from South Africa, presented South Africa’s Special Economic Zones and an overview of South Africa’s economy.
Members of the Industrial Zone participated effectively during the question and answer session. Sectors invited to the seminar consisted of machinery, textile, energy, information technology. Members showed interest in doing business, partnering, cooperating with South African companies.
After the first part of the event in morning, the Management of the Industrial Zone organised the site visits for the South African delegation. The delegation was taken on a tour to the factories of members located in the zone.
The 2nd Geographical Indications Summit
The 2nd Geographical Indications Summit, has been the most prestigious event about geographical indications mainly in Turkey, was held on 19-21 September 2019 at Ankara Chamber of Commerce, Congresium International Convention & Exhibition Center.
This year’s theme of the Summit was titled as “From Anatolia to the World’. The primary aim of the Summit was to stimulate the potential of Turkey’s geographical indications by making a contribution to the branding of the products which belong to the geography of Turkey, and through this way to enable Turkey to benefit from the international trade and also achieve its rural development goals.
The most significant difference of the Summit from the agriculturally related summits is that it leads up to the promotion and commercialization of geographical indications while it provides an important learning platform in the field of geographical indications.
South African Embassy attended the 2nd International Geographical Summit and opened a stand to promote South Africa and South African Agro Processing and Food Security.
Aegean Regional Chamber of Industry (EBSO) Annual International Trade Briefing Session on 24 September 2019
Mr Tshepo Ranamane, First Secretary at the Embassy of South Africa, participated at the Chamber’s International Trade Briefing Session. Mr Ranamane delivered an overview of South Africa’s economy to the business members of the Chamber.
In an effort to discharge the Embassy’s economic diplomacy strategy for the sole purpose of attracting inward investments and promoting South African exports, Mr Ranamane shared a power point presentation to illustrate impressing opportunities, facts and figures. According to Mr Ranamane, “in accordance with South African government’s triple challenges, investments create jobs and imports largely do the opposite”.
The President of the Chamber, Mr Ender Yorgancilar also delivered remarks about “Global and National Perspective to the economy”. Mr Yorgancilar informed the members that the session is in line with the recently announced export plan by Turkey’s Minister of Trade, Ms RuhsarPekcan. The Honorary Consul General of South Africa and previous President of the Chamber, Mr Tamer Taskın also delivered a presentation about the African Market experience. Mr Taskin encouraged the members to export to South Africa as much as they can.