SA was being re-positioned and re-packaged for investment, said president Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking on a panel discussion moderated by former United States president, Bill Clinton, at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum 2018 held in New York yesterday (Wednesday).
Introducing Ramaphosa, Clinton pointed out that despite challenges, it was still better to focus on growing global trade rather than “arguing about what’s fair”.
“It is important to have global co-operation and we have a responsibility to ensure global trade continues,” he said, adding however that global leaders from traditional and emerging markets needed to come up with cooperative solutions which addressed the unique challenges of their own countries.
Putting him in the hot-seat, Clinton prompted Ramaphosa to address potential global investor concerns around the controversial expropriation without compensation proposal and SA’s myriad economic challenges.
Ramaphosa was quick to re-iterate that the EWC policy would be handled in a way that saw increased agricultural production, would ensure food security, and would not hurt the economy. He added that government was changing its policies to be more investor-friendly, including addressing corruption at state-owned enterprises.
Colombian president, Ivan Marquez, and Norwegian prime minister, Edna Solberg, also participated in the discussion which was centred around global leadership in trade relationships.
