Deputy President Paul Mashatile told Members of Parliament (MPs) in the National Assembly this week that government is looking to attract a large amount of foreign investment in the next few months as it tries to create inclusive growth.

Mashatile said that government is also looking to address structural barriers faced by marginalised communities.

He noted his visit to Ireland and the UK earlier this month and said that investors from these two countries are keen to tap into SA’s finance, energy, transportation and infrastructure development sectors.

“The overall aim of this engagement was to reassure the world and investors that our country is stable and open for business. I must say, in all of these meetings, we were warmly received,” Mashatile said.

He noted that he met with more than 20 institutional investors, who are already investing in South Africa.

“We also engaged with the government of the United Kingdom to strengthen and renew the historically deep and rich bilateral relations between our two countries by exploring new initiatives and opportunities for enhancing trade and investments,” he added.

“We anticipate that the upshot of our visit will contribute to an increase in the UK investors who have shown a strong interest in doing business in South Africa,” Mashatile explained.

The deputy president said that government’s ministerial teams have presented opportunities to State-Owned Entities including Eskom and Transnet.

These ministerial teams dealt with issues of energy, rail and port projects and water infrastructure projects, including the handling of the investment project book that was developed by Infrastructure South Africa, he added.

Mashatile said that government is also looking to get the private sector involved and noted that government alone would not be able to achieve the objectives of growing the economy and creating jobs.

“As a result, we’re taking these steps to engage the private sector, particularly also foreign investors who are interested to come and invest in our country,” he added.

“So, we were quite impressed that many of those that we met were very happy. They were saying they will be taking advantage in South Africa so that we can create the necessary jobs that we want to create and empower many of our people, particularly young people,” Mashatile said.

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