Cape Town and the Western Cape’s International Trade Promotion Unit at Wesgro announced that it has helped secure R4.98 billion in trade declarations during the 2018/19 financial year, on behalf of the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government.
This follows over R924 million in trade deals being declared by Wesgro-assisted exporters in quarter four of the financial year. The International Trade team also assisted in landing R381 million in outward foreign direct investment into the rest of Africa by Western Cape companies during 2018/19. Wesgro receives its international trade promotion mandate from the Western Cape Government’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT) and the City of Cape Town, and assists companies through its export advancement programme, outward selling missions and through business agreement facilitation, amongst other services.
During the last quarter of 2018/19, the trade team hosted four export outward selling missions, namely, to France, the United Arab Emirates, Japan and Cameroon. The team also undertook a fact-finding mission to Saudi Arabia.
A key service provided by the Unit is its Export Advancement Programme. During quarter four, the team hosted a Halal-focussed programme, where 32 companies participated. Growing Halal exports, and accessing the more than US$1 trillion market abroad, is a key strategic focus of the team, in line with the Western Cape Government’s Project Khulisa strategy. The team also conducted an additional export training in March of this year, where a total of 36 companies completed the programme.
Denan Kuni, Head of International Trade at Wesgro said: “These are stellar results from a Trade team that has worked hard to service Western Cape exporters during the course of the financial year. We will continue to streamline our processes to enhance our offerings and remain relevant and adept to exporters in the province. We encourage companies that have an export ready product, to reach out to us.”
