Trade missions cancel following WTC attack

ALTHOUGH THE terror attack in the US, and its immediate repercussions, have had an impact on the planned schedule of trade missions, this is not expected to become critical, according to Maria Mhlongo, trade mission co-ordinator at the Johannesburg Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
ItÕs too early to assess the overall effect, she said, needing at least another three months until it can be quantified in numbers. But the immediate indications are quite comforting.
"The gist of it is that two incoming delegations have cancelled or postponed because of the US event, the most recent from Argentine.
"We also postponed outgoing missions to India and Sri Lanka diarised for the end of October."
But, while one SA exhibition in Kuwait has been postponed, those planned for the end of the year in Egypt, Morocco, Dubai and Cameroon are still on the cards, according to Mhlongo. "Nothing has come back to postpone these, and I know they will take place," she said.
Asked to assess the recent trend in trade missions, Mhlongo suggested that there had been "slight growth" over the past three years.
This, she added, has been largely a result of an increasing focus on the African market and the numbers of missions being organised round this growing area for SA trade.