Ebubekir Salim, South Africa Branch’s President of the Association of Independent Industry Businessmen (MUSIAD) and President of the committee of Turkish World Business Council (DTİK) Middle East- Gulf Region said that the rich mining reserves in the Republic of South Africa should be assessed by Turkish investors.
He noticed that South Africa is a large market for investment in transportation, communications and infrastructure compared to other countries in the African continent.
He emphasized that South Africa offers competence in energy, civil engineering, economy and legal system.
Furthermore, “South Africa has the world’s largest identified mineral reserves, equivalent to 2.5 trillion USD, and can participate to Turkey’s strategy to diversify its imports of raw material”.
Mr. Salim believes that Turkish investors can receive easy support and guidance from the state through domestic partners in South Africa. The wealthy Muslim population in the country prefer Islamic banks. He thinks that the establishment of a Turkish bank will attract Muslim investors which also makes part of MÜSİAD’s plan.
On the other hand, Mr. Salim added that, South Africa, unlike other countries, was paying attention to local partnership and the presence of South African workers in foreign investments.
South Africa meets its energy needs which is over 50 GW from about 80 % of the coal, electricity is also generated from the nuclear power plant about 5%.
Since 2011, the country has set up a tariff system for independent electricity producers to attract foreign investment, so the investment that has been made so far is about 10 billion USD. In the country, renewable energy and infrastructure investments are required.
