Zuma to meet CEOs for Davos briefing

President Jacob Zuma will host a meeting on Tuesday in Cape Town with the CEOs of top companies to review the recent World Economic Forum held in Davos.

The meeting will also discuss how to promote a more investor-friendly climate in South Africa‚ the Presidency says.

Zuma met the CEOs in Pretoria on January 15 ahead of the World Economic Forum and also met with them in Davos.

It was agreed there should be a follow-up meeting in South Africa to reflect on the WEF meeting and lessons learned for the South African economy during the current negative economic climate and slow growth‚ Presidency spokesman Bongani Majola said. “The government also wants to use the opportunity to share with business the new InvestSA One Stop Shop Approach‚ which is designed to make South Africa more investor-friendly.”

The Department of Trade and Industry is to establish One Stop Shops throughout the country to promote the ease of doing business.

President Zuma recently established the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Investment Promotion (IMC) to improve the investor climate and support. Majola said the IMC‚ which is chaired by Zuma, assisted by the minister of Trade and Industry‚ focuses on the following tasks:

Overall coordination‚ alignment and policy coherence on economic policy and the regulatory framework‚ thereby providing clarity and certainty to investors;

Improvement in South Africa’s investment climate, in particular the ease of doing business and the competitiveness of South Africa;

Coordination and rollout of the One Stop Shop service across all levels in government. The One Stop service will fast-track‚ unblock and reduce red tape in government.

All departments in the three spheres of the government need to commit to a continuous improvement and a service-delivery ethos;

Overall coordination and alignment in terms of South Africa’s marketing as an investment destination both locally and abroad;

Scaling up private sector investment and increasing the impact of the Industrial Policy Action Plan and support for the black industrialist programme‚ SME development and the Township Economy;

Regional integration and industrialisation of the African continent;

Promoting cooperation and partnerships between the government and the private sector; and

Coordinating the inputs into the task teams of the Presidential Big Business Working Group and the new BBBEEE Commission.