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Outcomes of the Visits to Japan and Indonesia by Deputy President
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Questions and answers for Oral Reply by the Deputy
President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in the National Assembly (NA) 14
June 2006 1. Ms MM Ntuli (ANC): What were the outcomes of the
visits she recently undertook to? What
benefits will South Africa derive from these visits? Reply: The
Deputy President met, amongst others, the following parties in Japan: 1.
Prime Minister Kaizumi
2. Vice Chancellors of Universities (about 20)
3.
Japan Business Federation, including Japanese businesses operating in South Africa
such as Toyota and Mitsubishi
4. Several training institutions The most
important outcomes are: - Training collaboration with Japanese institutions
is being deliberated upon, which will address our scarce skills.
- Through
possible placement and/or student exchange opportunities with Companies and/or
universities in Japan. Small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME)
- Strengthening
relationships and increasing confidence among Japanese institutions which do business
in South Africa, i.e. Toyota wants to expand manufacturing capacity in Durban
where they already employ 10 000 people, Toyota will be up-skilling of their workforce.
The major focus of the trip to Indonesia was the small, medium and
micro enterprise (SMME)) sector and tourism. Indonesia has considerable experience
in the development of souvenirs and in the promotion of tourism sector. The objective
was to derive lessons from the Indonesia experience, focusing on roles played
by Government, SMMEs, and Financial Institutions in developing the robust SMME
and souvenir industry presently enjoyed by the Indonesian SMME. A delegation of
SMMEs; MECs from KwaZulu-Natal and North West; the Deputy Ministers of Finance,
Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT), and Department of Trade
and Industry (DTI); Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), National Productivity
Institute; accompanied me. The delegation focused mainly on areas of possible
cooperation between the SMMEs in both countries. An area that emerged as
interesting for both parties was cooperation in the development of 2010 souvenirs.
Indonesian SMMEs are advanced in creating a range of products and souvenirs that
depict the 2010 Football International Federation Association (FIFA) World Cup.
The Deputy Minister for Finance was requested by the Deputy President to investigate
the possibility of cooperation for production of FIFA 2010 souvenirs and report
on the implications of such, given the FIFA rules, as well as their ownership
of all brands and logos relating to the world cup. The other industry that
is highly developed in Indonesia is the Batik industry. This industry is dominated
by SMMEs, who create unique styles that are in high demand internationally, especially
by Africans. An area of cooperation therefore was possible joint ventures between
our SMMEs and the Indonesian ones to create unique African partners for our market,
and to focus on distinct South African designs. Most of the cotton they use for
Batik is imported from South Africa and Zimbabwe. The partnership would, therefore,
make sense. SEDA and National Productivity institute (NPI) are finalising
a souvenir proposal based on the Indonesian experience. Some of the SMMEs they
took to Indonesia are participating in the creation of souvenirs with the guidance
of SEDA. They are also investigating the possibility of having a one stop emporium
that would showcase all of South Africa's SMME products. This is an idea that
we saw in Indonesia, where they organise a trade show for all their regions, and
the entire buyers and sellers comer together for trade. The other issue
that we also raised is placement of unemployed graduates in the Batik industry,
given our need to save jobs in clothing industry and to enhance our arts and crafts,
as well as tourism. A follow up visit to Eastern Cape has also taken place in
May and an agreement for cooperation has been signed.
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