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Johannesburg – South Africa’s Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies has called India Africa’s oldest ally, as he praised that country for its continued involvement in Africa’s development.

Davies addressed the opening of the 3rd Africa-India Trade Ministers' Meeting in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The high level gathering is being attended by ministers of trade from several African countries including Nigeria, Ethiopia, Benin, Namibia, Senegal and Libya, among others.

“Our relations with India are undisputed. We have been partners for many years and our trade relations continue to grow from strength to strength,” said Davies.

At the gathering, he called for India to help Africa become “industrial producers” by forging a mutually beneficial relationship.

“The continent of Africa needs to industrialise. The option of simply producing value added products and exporting those to the developed world is no longer viable. The rich world remains immersed in low growth and in fact is trying to industrialise itself,” Davies said.

Africa needed to have another leg which builds on internal markets. But the problem with mobilising internal markets in Africa was linked to colonialism which, divided the continent into 54 countries.

“As individual countries, even the biggest of us … don’t really have the basis of a domestic market of its own of the scale of India or other emerging economies do,” said Davies.

The minister was adamant, despite India’s weak growth in 2012 and this year, the target of achieving $90 billion total trade between Africa and India in 2015 was still a realistic one.

“In 2011, Africa and India’s bilateral trade reached $60 billion, suggesting we are on track to reach that target.”

But Davies was also not shy to say South Africa needed to pay more attention to the quality and content of that trade.

“It’s not just the question of content -, it’s a question of what we are trading. We need to record that while Indian imports in Africa have risen by an average of 14%, they still predominantly (import) mineral fuel, lubricants and gold. In other words we continue to supply raw material and this needs to change.”

This was echoed by African Union Commission Chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, who acknowledged India as an important partner in efforts to promote regional integration in Africa, but said trade needed to be balanced.

“In addition, while calling for more Indian foreign direct investment in Africa, such investment should be diversified and encourage local private sector participation, particularly for women and Africa’s growing youthful population,” Dlamini Zuma said.

“We look forward to these investments contributing to Africa’s agenda of promoting industrialisation and value addition to its raw materials within the continent prior to their exportation and to the development of African skills and know-how.”

India's Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said the Asian country was committed to play a meaningful role in Africa’s development.

“In 2012, Africa registered a strong growth and India had a bad year but our trade continues to be strong. We need to ensure not only our growth should be sustainable but it must be inclusive.

“We are accountable to the millions of our people who we want to be economically independent,” Sharma said.

India has begun investing in the energy sector in Africa as well as in mining, including uranium and hydrocarbons, precious metals and gemstones, especially gold and diamonds. – SAnews.gov.za

The bidding process closed on Friday, September 26, and the decision will now be made who will stage the various national championships events for 2014. For these purposes a Competition Committee was appointed who will work through the bidding documents and decide on the successful candidates. It was decided that members of this committee should [...]Process closes for Championship events is a post from: Trail Running South Africa


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European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has delivered its first A400M military transport plane to France. The handover ceremony took place at the Airbus Military plant in Seville, Spain, on Monday. The aircraft, the first of 50 ordered by France and one of a total of 174 on order, will be based at Orleans Bricy Air Base. [...]Airbus delivers first A400M is a post from: TheBizSense Network


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South Africa is making steady progress in implementing the National Climate Change Response Policy, despite having to balance its economic aspirations and environmental protection.

The Deputy Director-General: Climate Change and Air Quality at the Department of Environmental Affairs, Judy Beaumont, on Monday said the country was making strides in transitioning into the green economy.

Beaumont was speaking at the 16th International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Association (IUAPPA) in Cape Town.

“We have come a long way in a relatively short period of time, and this can be attributed to hard work and collaboration. There has been collaboration between all three spheres of government, as well as with key stakeholders, the local scientific community and international colleagues and partners.

“South Africa has been able to build on the experience of other countries, and define and adopt a set of air quality management tools that provide unique solutions to our unique circumstances,” said Beaumont.

It’s been nearly 10 years since the introduction of new air quality legislation in South Africa, and in 2011, the country adopted the National Climate Change Response Policy. Developed over a period of six years, the policy gives the country a clear roadmap for responding to the urgency of climate change as it pushes towards a green economy.

Beaumont said one of the steps they have taken to help the country realise the creation of a thriving green economy was merging the climate change and the air quality management capacity within her department.

“The relationship between the two is key to the transition to a greener and lower carbon economy. This arrangement has enabled the two to work closely together to derive synergies between the work of Air Quality Management and Climate Change.”

She said Environmental Affairs was also leading by example to reduce SA’s carbon footprint.

“We are currently in the process of constructing a green building for the department and we anticipate occupation on June 2014. This will be the first government building with a green status in South Africa,” said Beaumont.

The 16th IUAPPA, which will end on Friday, is hosted in association with the National Association for Clean Air (NACA).

Held under the theme ‘Many Nations - One Atmosphere: Plotting the Path to Sustainability’, the focus of the congress is to seek holistic sustainable solutions for air quality in the developing world.

Beaumont said the theme was “extremely appropriate” in a world where more than one billion are exposed to outdoor air pollution. – SAnews.gov.za

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