Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala is on an official working visit to the United Kingdom (UK), where he will engage strategic finance stakeholders and conduct important bilateral discussions with his ministerial counterparts on driving further investment into South Africa’s infrastructure project pipeline.
Zikalala will be in the UK until Friday.
While there, the minister will deliver a keynote address at the Global Trade Review Africa 2023 in London on Wednesday. He will also attend the opening of Parliament at the invitation of Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP, Speaker of the House of Commons.
The South African government has unveiled and gazetted a project pipeline of more than 70 projects in the sectors of energy, water, digital infrastructure, transport, human settlements and agriculture.
Zikalala, who is joined by a delegation from Infrastructure South Africa (ISA), will seek to pivot investment-ready infrastructure projects and further strengthen relations with the UK government to ensure sustainable collaboration in the infrastructure eco-system.
Zikalala is being hosted by Andrew Selous, the UK Prime Minister’s trade envoy to South Africa. He will conduct bilateral talks with Andrew Mitchell, the Minister of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, as well as with Timothy Minto, the Minister of State in the Department for Business and Trade.
Zikalala and his delegation will round off their working trip with a site visit to King’s Cross and bilateral engagements with the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.
He will then proceed to the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) Intra-African Trade Fair in Cairo, Egypt. It takes place from 9 to 15 November. There he will focus on accelerating business and economic growth across Africa. The fair will also serve as a platform for his delegation to showcase and market strategic infrastructure projects (SIPs).
This forum will involve senior executives from governments, major banks, companies and nongovernmental organisations from across Africa and beyond. – SAnews.gov.za
