The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) would partner with Italy’s Turin Chamber of Commerce in facilitating a multimillion-rand investment in the Western Cape’s deciduous fruit processing industry, including significant skills transfer.

During its participation at the World Chamber Federation Congress, in Turin, in June, Sacci also interacted with other African chambers of commerce, concerning the Group of 20 (G20) Leaders Summit, to be held in Turkey on November 15 and 16.

Sacci undertook to convene meetings of relevant African chambers to develop an African business contribution to the Business-20 (B20), which would convene in Nairobi prior to the G20 Leaders Summit.

The B20 Trade Task Force had committed toward the ratification of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO’s) trade facilitation agreement by year-end, as it could contribute an additional $1-trillion to global gross domestic product and 21-million jobs – 18-million of which would be in developing countries.

Further, the B20 would also work with the WTO and its members to ensure quick and effective implementation. The strategy was to set business priorities for G20 governments, which also included a call on the G20 to roll back protection measures implemented since the 2008 financial crisis.

Sacci president Vusi Khumalo said the bi-yearly forum allowed chambers from across the world to share their best practices, common areas of interest, ideas and interventions that could help the global economy.

“[The fruit processing deal] is a great opportunity for Sacci members, as it would certainly yield practical measurable results that can add value to the economy,” he highlighted.

He further noted that it was “amazing” to see significant participation from the Southern Africa Development Community chambers’ presidents and members.

“In our interaction, the need to fortify our partnerships that would create an enabling environment to conduct trade and business within the member States emerged.

“South Africa was given the honour to lead and facilitate the discussions among those chambers to create an input towards the G20,” he added.

Further, Khumalo said the congress was beneficial, as it allowed the chamber to “pick up a number of global learnings, which we would like to put to the test in South Africa . . . such as small business advocacy used in Australia – small business is too big to ignore,” he said.

From Dublin, Ireland, Sacci learned of the implemention of a programme known as ‘Activating Dublin’, which was developed in response to the economic crisis in 2008/9.

“The learning was that the chamber, in its attempt to address the scenario, invited all the leaders of global companies to a thinking session to identify possible economic interventions.

“This included companies such as Google, eBay, Facebook and so forth. One of the things that they discovered is that three out of every four euros spent online in Ireland was being spent outside of the country, which is no different from South Africa. Using the global companies’ expertise, the chamber developed a series of workshops to assist companies to develop platforms for online sales.

“Fifty-five per cent of companies that participated in the workshops enjoyed a noticeable sales growth,” Khumalo pointed out.

LOCAL FOCUS
Meanwhile, Khumalo said Sacci was becoming increasingly concerned at the indifference that government departments and municipalities were showing towards tax- and ratepayers. “A growing apathy is becoming even more evident,” he stated.

“A case in point is the closure of the Bultfontein road, in Kimberley,” he said, noting that the road had been closed seven years ago as it was unsafe and was falling into the Big Hole.

“Technical investigations have shown that the road is safe for use . . . and despite the closure of the road, taxi operators are using it with impunity, while other road users are barred. Business on the road have been subjected to severe trading impediments,” he said.

Numerous appeals had been made to the local authority, relevant provincial members of executive committees and national government officials, but no resolution had been reached yet. “All approaches and appeals have fallen on deaf ears,” Khumalo said.