Zuma: South African investments are boosting African economies
South African investments in Africa are making a significant contribution to the economies of African countries, President Jacob Zuma has said.
Zuma took time out of his schedule at the United Nations this week to address a small handful of students from the Pan-African Students Association at prestigious Princeton University.
Zuma said South Africa’s foreign policy had been aimed at breaking down barriers that made trade difficult in the continent.
“Africa remains an important economic region for South Africa as evidenced not only by the widespread presence of our companies on the continent, but also the increasing trade cooperation. South Africa has become one of the major investors on the continent,” he said.
“The investments by South African companies on the continent significantly contribute to employment, revenue and taxes in the countries concerned.”
Zuma told students they should take an interest in Africa and help come up with ideas for growth. He added that the continent was rising.
“There is no doubt that over the past decade, Africa has come from being the so-called hopeless continent to being a rising star,” he said.
This was due to the continent achieving a measure of peace and stability after having been a “notorious continent with raging wars”.
Zuma said “around two-thirds of governments in Africa are democratically elected, compared with just eight in 1991”.
He said the spread of peace and good governance was providing African entrepreneurs with an environment conducive to establishing their industries and promoting themselves.
This meant that six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies were in Africa now.
“In eight of the past ten years, Africa has grown faster than East Asia,” Zuma said.
But this growth had to include the poor, he insisted.
The economic growth in Africa “will produce the resources we need to achieve economic growth and improve the quality of life”, he said.
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe last year criticized South Africa for wanting other countries to remove their trade barriers, yet not being willing to do remove its own tariffs and taxes for other African countries.
Zuma was to address the UN General Assembly later on Monday.
-African News Agency