Minister Ebrahim Rasool, Minister of Economic Development, sends a welcoming message to delegates at the Southern Cape Business Prospects Conference

On behalf of the Western Cape Government I should like to send good wishes and welcome all delegates and guests to the second annual Southern Cape Business Prospects Conference, which this year is being hosted by the Knysna Municipality.
The Southern Cape region is blessed with an abundance of natural attractions and resources, and tourism has long been a keystone of the local economy. It is heartening therefore to see the municipalities of the Eden district not sitting back and resting on their tourism laurels. Indeed, the municipalities are all pro-actively involved in dynamic plans for socio-economic development, many of which include innovative projects and new directions in the upliftment of surrounding communities.
Such projects and plans require substantial capital expenditure and local authorities realise that without outside investment many of these projects will not reach fruition. Thus, creating worthwhile investment opportunities and incentives for investors has become a priority for local town councils and it is reassuring to see how far-sighted these plans are as featured in the pages that follow.
As I pointed out in my Budget speech earlier this year, the Provincial government has embarked on a programme to facilitate local economic devlopment in all its aspects and to deal with obstacles head-on.
The key challenge in our economy, and central to the strategic objectives of the new Western Cape Government, is the need to balance the demands of the traditional economy with that of the new, emerging economy. These demands differ. It is established that the new emerging economy requires a particular type of skill, infrastructure and market. However, the current demands of the traditional manufacturing sectors are more complex and need to be addressed systematically. The following sectors need to be central to our Industrial Strategy in the Western Cape to meet these diverse demands

Clothing and Textile Industry
This sector has been experiencing a decline for the last decade and urgently needs a concerted effort by all stakeholders like factory owners, trade unions, training providers, ancillary industries and government to address the structural problems of the industry. Our interventions must be based on utilising our long experience in the industry, our skilled artisans, our creative design capacity and the exciting concept of turning the province into the creative centre of South Africa to feed value added goods into niche markets across the world.

Furniture
Furniture is another sector where a strategic intervention to engender better design in the manufacturing process can vastly increase the competitiveness of the industry. An initial focus on the Southern Cape furniture manufacturing cluster will be extended to other concentrations of the industry.

Organics
The organics industry represents vast export and rural job creation potential, and we will be developing a strategic approach to drawing together what is currently a highly fragmented industry. We have earmarked R200 000 for this project.

Bio-technology
The bio-tech industry has important ramifications for us in terms of potential solutions to health and food security challenges. It is also an opportunity to capitalise on our resources, namely our biodiversity and our people, for the economic benefit of all. To answer this challenge, my Department has recently launched the Cape Bio-tech initiative, and has already begun to make an impact not only at a regional level but at a national level.

Oil and Gas
An exciting sector that we intend supporting is the oil and gas supply industry. As much as $2 billion is being spent off the West and also the East coasts of Africa by major international oil companies. The Department is driving an initiative to position the region to entice the oil companies to use Cape Town as a base to access these regions. The benefits would be considerable and impact on sectors as diverse as engineering, ship repair, consumer goods, training and leisure.

The ICT Sector
Critical to us marching into the 21st Century is the Information and Communication Technology Sector. Our Province has a dedicated Knowledge Economy and E-government Branch in the Department.
As government we should be absolutely interested in preparing the Western Cape to be receptive to the ICT Sector. This requires that government itself must change and utilise e-government, to interact with citizens and even to do business such as procurement electronically.
At a government level the changing political climate in the Western Cape has done much to ensure true co-operative governance. Similarly we must systematically arrive at an institutional arrangement that unites and co-ordinates all our efforts within civil society and between civil society and government.

Conference venue and programme

The second Southern Cape Business Prospects Conference will be held at the Ashmead Conference Centre in Knysna on Tuesday, November 25.
The conference will be attended by delegates from the Western Cape Provincial Government, Wesgro, representatives of each of the main municipalities of the Eden District and the local business chambers.
Business enterprises are invited to participate in the conference with a display of products and investment opportunities at the conference venue.
Registration for bookings can be made through the South Cape Business Centre in George. Potential conference sponsors can contact the convenor,