The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), in collaboration with the South African Footwear and Leather Export Council (Saflec) and the Western Cape Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Wesgro), will host a virtual exhibition targeting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) today.
According to a statement from the dtic, the purpose of the virtual event is to promote South Africa’s industrial capabilities and position South African companies that manufacture footwear and leather products as suppliers of choice.
Deputy minister of the dtic, Fikile Majola, said that 31 local footwear and leather manufacturing companies would showcase their products at the virtual event and 100 buyers from the greater Middle East region and the African continent would participate.
“The UAE and Saudi Arabia remain strategic as well as our important trading partners in the Middle East region. We are therefore committed to further strengthening bilateral economic relations with these two key partners and other countries in the greater Middle East region,” Majola said.
He added that the dtic was mandated to promote South African value-added goods and services through strategic mechanisms such as these in targeted high-growth markets.
Executive director of Saflec, Nerisha Jairaj, said that amidst the barriers of Covid-19, the South African footwear and leather industry had pivoted through virtual platforms since April last year to continue with trade promotion of the sector.
