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Black-owned wine companies will get a foot into the Russian market when a group of importers visit South Africa next week.
The four-day
Russian Inward Buying Mission will start on Monday at the Invest South
Africa Western Cape One Stop Shop. The delegation will also visit some
of the farms and premises in various parts of the Western Cape during
the mission.
The mission is a
result of a meeting between South African Trade and Industry Deputy
Minister Bulelani Magwanishe and the CEO of Marine Express, Andre
Kuzmin, on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic
Forum in June.
Marine Express is one of Russia's leading wine importing companies.
"Marine Express is
undoubtedly one of Russia's leading importers and distributors of wine
and liquor. Their distribution covers all of Russia's regions and goes
through all distribution channels. Its clientele comprises of more than
400 customers located in more than 60 cities. These include retail
chains, restaurants, hotels and wholesale companies," said Deputy
Minister Magwanishe.
He invited the CEO
of Marine Express to South Africa with the specific objective of
creating access to market for black-owned wine companies to enable them
to export their wines to Russia.
Black and
women-owned winemakers and brand owners from the Western Cape belonging
to Treasure Chest will participate in the session. Treasure Chest
comprises 14 black wine owners, 90% of whom are women. A wine
co-operative from the Eastern Cape, as well as other stakeholders in the
wine industry, will also be part of the session.
"The Department of
Trade and Industry (dti) supports the Treasure Chest project because it
is a unique wine trade initiative that aims to address transformation in
the wine industry and bring economic and social development to wine
brand owners.
"Their objectives
of creating jobs and contributing to increasing the country's exports to
achieve economic growth are in line with the department's mandate and
objectives," Deputy Minister Magwanishe said.
Caterpillar Southern Africa's B-BBEE programme
Meanwhile, Minister
Rob Davies is expected to speak at the launch of the Caterpillar
Southern Africa's Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Equity
Equivalent Investment Programme (EEIP) on Wednesday.
The programme,
which will be launched in Johannesburg, is expected to contribute to
supplier development and the development of youth.
"The programme is
expected to contribute towards the achievement of enterprise creation
and supplier development, foreign direct investment, accelerated growth
and development of black rural women and youth.
"It is also
expected to contribute towards sustainable growth and development, human
development with a focus on education and skills development, and
infrastructure investment with an emphasis on developing the country's
research and development infrastructure," said Minister Davies on
Thursday.
The Minister said
the EEIP is a dti initiative where multinational companies are invited
to participate and contribute positively towards B-BBEE in South Africa.
Caterpillar, he
said, applied for participation in the Equity Equivalent Investment
Programme with the aim of empowering local and black-owned enterprises
through Enterprise and Supplier Development.
"On 21 January
2016, Caterpillar Southern Africa was granted exemption from selling
equity and instead to participate in the Equity Equivalent Investment
Programme. The proposed programme is aimed at contributing towards
product localisation to increase South African industrial base. The
investment amount is R1.3 billion based on the 25% of the business value
from the South African operation," Minister Davies said.
The approved
business plan seeks to promote localisation and industrialisation and is
expected to create about 3 900 jobs direct and indirect jobs.
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