By Fakir Hassen, IANS,
Johannesburg : South African companies can use their capacities to reap benefits from the $500 million that India plans to invest by 2012 in infrastructure projects, according to vice-president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Hari Bhartia.
Bhartia was speaking Thursday at the opening of a two-day conference, “Doing Business with India”, here.
Some 200 captains of business and industry are attending the event, jointly organised by the Indian mission here, CII, and the South African ministry of trade and industry.
“The great strength of South Africa in infrastructure could be used to good advantage with India’s plans to invest $500 million by 2012,” Bhartia said.
“We need roads, airports, and other infrastructure.”
Indian High Commissioner Rajiv Bhatia said although growth in trade between India and South Africa had been consistent, it was still not within the targets set by the leaders of the two countries.
The countries have set a target of $10 billion for bilateral trade by 2010 and $15 billion for intra-IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) trade by 2010.
Bhatia shared a “five-point blueprint” to boost trade between India and these countries.
Firstly, greater government-to-government participation is “essential”, he said.
India’s minister of commerce and industry will pay an official visit to South Africa next month, which may be followed by his counterpart Rob Davies’ visit to India.
“Secondly, the business-to-business engagement needs to be further strengthened,” Bhatia said.
This should run at least at four layers – through apex chambers such as CII and Business South Africa; through sectoral chambers and industry organisations; through banks and knowledge partners, and through individual business leaders.
The third element in Bhatia’s blueprint was a speedy conclusion of bilateral agreements.
“In particular, speedy conclusion of the Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (BIPPA) would go a long way in enhancing the flow of Indian investments into South Africa and vice versa.”
“Fourthly, further efforts are needed to increase tourism-related exchanges because recent figures represent a small part of the available potential,” the diplomat said.
Tourism promotion assumes further urgency in light of the fact that South Africa would host World Soccer Cup and India would host the Commonwealth Games next year.
“Finally, it is also important both for India Inc and South Africa Inc to leverage the IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa) dimension of India-South Africa relationship,” Bhatia said.
By enhancing trilateral trade and undertaking trilateral projects, business communities are now in a position to benefit themselves and also to contribute to the larger cause of faster economic development in the three countries, he added.