Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, last week provided concrete evidence of South Africa’s growing trade relationship with the US. “Our trade with the United States has recovered to the levels of 2008 before the global financial crisis. The total bilateral trade in 2008 was R123.7 and last year was R122.7 billion, perfectly back to where we were before. We had fallen to R82.7 billion in 2009. The United States is also our 2nd largest export destination and 3rd largest import partner. Bilateral trade has recovered and is at 1.6% above 2008 levels,” said Minister Davies. The two countries also have a good investment relationship particularly regarding Foreign Direct Investment, he said. “Last year we saw investment in 37 projects with a Capex of R8.8 billion; the year before we had 34 projects with higher Capex value of R10.7 billion. This year we have also seen a number of significant announcements,” stated Davies. There’s also a fairly strong and significant two way investment relationship, he added. “We have top South African companies such as SASOL, Dimension Data and Sappi that have invested and created jobs in the United States. Similarly, 600 US companies have invested and created jobs in South Africa. Examples are, Amazon.com, General Electric, Ford and Procter and Gamble,” he said. Minister Davies emphasised that South Africa would use President Barack Obama's visit to lobby for the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) to 15-20 years. “We are strongly in support of the African position on this, which is to call for a roll-over for a significant period of time of AGOA. We think that will provide a degree of certainty and allow some investment to take place on the basis of AGOA activities,” he concluded. AGOA is a piece of legislation that emanates from the US congress and allows for a range of South African products to reach American markets. Agoa is not something which the administration is responsible for. However, Davies said previous comments by senior Obama administration officials showed there was support for the Agoa extension. The President of Ford Motor Company and the American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa (AmCham), Mr Jeff Nemeth said the appointment of the former US ambassador to South Africa, Donald H Gips, as the US-South Africa Business Council should be good news to South Africa, as he is aware of investment opportunities in South Africa. He added that his appointment was likely to strengthen economic relations.
