Welcome to the Tshwane Trade and Investment Summit

The Tshwane Trade and Investment Summit (TTIS) builds on initiatives we have taken as the City of Tshwane in line with Vision 2030 which is aligned with the National Development Plan. Our apex priority is aptly captured in the Integrated Development Plan namely a City that facilitates economic growth and job creation, to the benefit of its residents.

The theme for TTIS 2019 is – Partnering for Development: An investor friendly Capital City, which is informed by our understanding that the City can only thrive in its developmental mandate if it works with other stakeholders like business, others spheres of government, relevant agencies and labour.

Cities all over the world are competing for investments. We believe that what is going to differentiate us from other cities is innovation, creativity and remaining on the cutting edge of technological development.

We have been very bold in our approach and set ourselves a target of attracting investment of over R10 billion in this term of office. Our efforts have already paid off delivering investments in excess of R7 billion since we came into office. The City of Tshwane is fast becoming one of the major destinations for investments given the recent development in the automotive and construction sector. We are poised to reach even greater heights with the new Tshwane Automotive City Project which has received a massive boost with the establishment of a new Tshwane Special Economic Zone. Furthermore agriculture and agro processing, energy and tourism sectors will also receive attention in this summit.

The TTIS will help us achieve the following:

• Increase in the rand value of exports from Tshwane;
• Increase the rand value of investments attracted to the City;
• Profile bankable projects and strategic land parcels in the city to attract new investments;
• Facilitate business-to-business linkages; and
• Showcase Tshwane’s value-added goods and services.

TTIS therefore offers a myriad of opportunities for businesses, investors and delegates alike to promote their products and services, a peer learning platform and an ideal place to exchange ideas and gain access to policy and decision makers in government and other important agencies created to facilitate development.

Finally, my office has taken keen interest in ensuring that forums like these do not become talk shows but platforms to assess progress in delivering on our mandate to create a conducive environment for growth and investments. We will, on regular basis update stakeholders on milestones achieved against commitments made and resolutions taken at this summit.

Cities are engines of growth and development. It is in cities that development takes place and therefore the City of Tshwane like other developed cities around the globe has to compete for inward investments and therefore must continue to offer services to investors located within its boundaries. One of the responsibilities of the Tshwane Economic Development Agency (TEDA) is to ensure business retention, expansion and attraction of new investments. Furthermore. In addition TEDA has a role in facilitating development and conceptualising development. To this end, TEDA has to devise plans and means to position the City of Tshwane as an investment destination of choice.

The Tshwane Trade and Investment Summit (TTIS) is one of the flagship platforms that City of Tshwane, working with TEDA has conceived to help achieve the above mentioned objectives.

The Summit seeks to align with the National Investment Conference spearheaded by the Office of the President to attract investors to South Africa. One of the key lessons from the previous conference was the need for Cities and regions to prepare accordingly in order to present a compelling value proposition to both domestic and foreign investors by developing investment books. The investment booklet for TTIS contains over 15 projects sourced from the public and private sector with opportunities ranging from infrastructure, agriculture, automotive, energy, commercial, industrial to real estate sectors to mention a few. Further information on these projects is shared on platforms such as the TEDA website. 

In preparation for TTIS 2019 we consulted stakeholders widely to obtain their input including in compiling the investment booklet.

The programme of TTIS 2019 also underwent a rigorous process of consultation to ensure that we provide value for stakeholders and produce outcomes that will be appreciated by all parties attending the summit. We appreciate the role played by business chambers, business associations and other spheres of government in the summit programme.

We hope that delegates will find the TTIS informative and valuable for their future interactions with the City of Tshwane and TEDA. We are also looking forward to fruitful engagements and great takeaways from this summit.