When President Barack Obama asked
me to come to SA to represent him as US ambassador it was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up. I still remember the day 25 years ago when Madiba walked triumphantly into freedom. We raced out into the streets to dance and it was one of the few times when my father openly wept in front of me.
Four years later, along with so many Americans, I was inspired by the newly
elected President Nelson Mandela’s
words calling for the country to create a new future that would help all citizens realise their full potential. I am proud that over the past 20 years, the US government has supported SA’s achievements across a broad spectrum of activities, ranging from working together to confront the scourge of HIV and AIDS to supporting social development under our aid and education programmes.
As important as these ties are, the private sector trade and investment links that have developed during the same period positively influence the lives of more South Africans every day. I am proud that there are more than 600 American companies invested here, contributing an estimated 10% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and employing more than 100 000 South Africans.
In addition, the African Growth and Opportunity Act has had made a significant impact on trade between the US and Africa and no country has made better use of it to create jobs and support growth than SA. Last year alone, SA exported $2.3bn (about R27bn) worth of cars to the US, supporting 30 000 workers in Port Elizabeth and Gauteng. At the US-Africa Leaders Summit during August, President Obama committed the US government to expanding these economic ties because a thriving, growing Africa is good for us too.
In addition to the stability they bring, expanded markets are good for US business. As a result, we created a number of programmes to encourage US companies to look to Africa, including Doing Business in Africa, Power Africa and the Africa private capital group initiatives. SA is well positioned to benefit from these new initiatives and many US companies will visit over the next 12 months to consider new, job-creating investments.
SA well-placed to benefit from US trade programmes
Patrick H Gaspard, the US ambassador to SA, on the positive effects of bilateral trade
When President Barack Obama asked
me to come to SA to represent him as US ambassador it was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up. I still remember the day 25 years ago when Madiba walked triumphantly into freedom. We raced out into the streets to dance and it was one of the few times when my father openly wept in front of me.
Four years later, along with so many Americans, I was inspired by the newly
elected President Nelson Mandela’s
words calling for the country to create a new future that would help all citizens realise their full potential. I am proud that over the past 20 years, the US government has supported SA’s achievements across a broad spectrum of activities, ranging from working together to confront the scourge of HIV and AIDS to supporting social development under our aid and education programmes.
As important as these ties are, the private sector trade and investment links that have developed during the same period positively influence the lives of more South Africans every day. I am proud that there are more than 600 American companies invested here, contributing an estimated 10% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and employing more than 100 000 South Africans.
In addition, the African Growth and Opportunity Act has had made a significant impact on trade between the US and Africa and no country has made better use of it to create jobs and support growth than SA. Last year alone, SA exported $2.3bn (about R27bn) worth of cars to the US, supporting 30 000 workers in Port Elizabeth and Gauteng. At the US-Africa Leaders Summit during August, President Obama committed the US government to expanding these economic ties because a thriving, growing Africa is good for us too.
In addition to the stability they bring, expanded markets are good for US business. As a result, we created a number of programmes to encourage US companies to look to Africa, including Doing Business in Africa, Power Africa and the Africa private capital group initiatives. SA is well positioned to benefit from these new initiatives and many US companies will visit over the next 12 months to consider new, job-creating investments.
We want to seize these opportunities to develop the industries of the future while deepening and strengthening our bilateral trade and investment ties. SA has grown so much since 1994 that its economy increasingly resembles other advanced Western economies. This means the manufacturing, mining and agricultural sectors are steadily shrinking as a percentage of GDP while the services sector is growing. I believe this natural economic evolution will have a great impact on our economic relationship.
Clear and consistent laws on investment that protect intellectual and real property rights are essential for growing the innovation-based economy of the future in both our countries. This is why this year we are focused on developing a much broader, stronger economic partnership with SA.
We want to move from a predominant focus on tariff levels to discussing how we can help develop a vibrant innovation economy, capturing the tremendous potential of your scientists and companies to help solve some of the planet’s toughest medical, environmental and manufacturing challenges while making businesses more productive and helping to create thousands of new jobs.
In President Obama’s words, “Just as Africa is changing, we need to change the way we think about the continent, put aside old stereotypes and respond to Africans’ desire for a partnership of equals where Africans take the lead in their own development.” This is exactly what we intend to do. Through a new economic partnership, I believe the US can help your country deliver on the future about which all South Africans dream – and that is another opportunity that I won’t pass up.
March 2015