President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa does not take its relationship with the United States (US) for granted and values the trust American companies continue to put in the country.

Ramaphosa addressed the Trade and Investment Executive Dialogue held on Wednesday on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

After spending part of the day in bilateral meetings with US businesses, including Amazon, Google and Cisco among others, he attended an event co-hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce’s US Africa Business Centre and the American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa as part of efforts to deepen commercial ties but also to address the broader strategic imperatives that bind the countries economies together.

Ramaphosa says, “We’ve been engaged in these constructive engagements over some time, and we are now entering into the more serious and constructive type of negotiations. As Minister (Parks) Tau has said, ‘where there’s the exchange of text and hoping that it will all culminate in an agreement.”

He says, “Minister Tau is usually a very cautious person, and he’s cautiously optimistic. I am immensely optimistic and we understand the concerns that have been raised by the United States and are willing to engage to find solutions that are mutually beneficial.”

Ramaphosa explained that their goals were simple: to sustain and expand trade flows, keep companies competitive and ensure that consumers and workers in both countries benefit from the relationship, as he pressed those with influence in the room to advocate for the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which expires at the end of this month.

Ramaphosa says, “During the course of our presence here in New York, we’ve been meeting quite a number of people, people who are either legislators, linked to the executive or to the administration and we’ve been urging them that it is in our collective interest as South Africa, indeed Africa as a voice and bring about your influence, that it should be so. Predictable preferential access to the US market is vital not only for South Africa, but to American companies who depend on reliable imports.”

Modernising economy

The President says  South Africa is modernising its economy, reforming various levers that drive growth by addressing bottlenecks, diversifying exports and driving industrialisation to move beyond raw commodities into higher value-added goods and services.

Ramaphosa says, “We see particular promise in areas such as agriculture, which has been really driving growth in our economy in the past few quarters, in agro processing as well and high-value food production. There are opportunities in automotives, where we are transitioning to electric vehicles and to better ship production and green energy. Our renewable energy endowments and platinum reserves offer unrivalled potential.”

He also welcomed the establishment of a US Trade and Investment Forum, indicating that its inaugural session would take place in South Africa next year.

Ramaphosa says, “This forum that will be established will allow us to engage more systematically to address obstacles as they arise and to pursue opportunities in a coordinated fashion.”

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