JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, March 31, 2017/APO/ -- 

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies will deliver a keynote address on the second day of the 6th Proudly South African Buy Local Summit, that will be hosted at the Sandton Convention Centre from 3-4 April 2017.

According to Davies, the South African government has recognised promoting locally produced goods, as a stimulus for growth in the domestic manufacturing sector and job creation, and has developed and implemented a number of strategies to assist the local manufacturing industry with a renewed drive towards local procurement.

“The manufacturing sector has the highest economic and employment multipliers than any sector. Therefore, it plays a critical and indispensable role as a driver of innovation and productivity growth. It should increasingly provide the capital goods and equipment inputs required for the infrastructure which is central to the country’s growth strategy while, more generally, ‘feeding’ locally manufactured inputs,” says Davies.

He adds that the buy local message is an on-going call to action, to the entire country, from government to private companies, small and medium enterprises, big business, as well as ordinary consumers.

“Underlining all our efforts is the realisation that the growth of our economy has a direct impact on job stimulation as a result of making buy local choices at all levels. By buying locally grown, produced or manufactured goods or services, businesses grow, thereby stimulating economic growth and sustainable job creation,” says Davies.

Furthermore, he adds that strong persuasive initiatives are required to secure greater private sector support for local manufacturing, a contribution that large companies in particular are well-placed to make, given their significant procurement spend. Davies says it also includes providing further support for Broad-Based -Black Economic Empowerment (BBB-EE), and better alignment between BBB-EE and industrial development objectives.

“A sustained strategy to secure compliance with existing public procurement policies and supplier development and sourcing measures, with the overall aim of supporting the manufacturing sector to raise domestic production and grow employment should be the end result of all government efforts,” adds Davies.

Distributed by APO on behalf of The Department of Trade and Industry, South Africa.