On Tuesday, 4 July 2023, Brand South Africa, in collaboration with the South African Consulate in Lagos, Nigeria, the South African Chapter of the BRICS Business Council and South African Tourism hosted a business Roundtable under the theme Promoting Regional and Continental Trade Through the AfCFTA and BRICS in Africa.
The objective was to facilitate discussions on the AfCFTA, which became operational in May 2019, and to shed light on the importance of South Africa’s participation in the BRICS alliance.
During the meeting, participants had conversations, shared their thoughts, and looked for opportunities to collaborate in trade. They discussed how the AfCFTA and South Africa’s membership in the BRICS alliance could be used to stimulate economic growth and cooperation in Africa.
Nigeria is an important partner for South Africa in the continent, and it has become a priority country for South Africa due to its large market share for South African exports and investments in the West-Africa subregion. The bilateral relations between Nigeria and South Africa have grown significantly since 1994. Nigeria is now the 7th largest African export market for South Africa and also supplies a significant amount of crude oil to South Africa.
Since 1994 Nigeria and South Africa’s bilateral relations have grown significantly, to the extent that Nigeria is South Africa’s 7th largest African export market and Nigeria is one of South Africa’s primary crude oil suppliers.
In creating awareness of the AfCFTA, and encouraging intercontinental trade amongst African countries, the dialogue will focus on the importance of African countries’ contribution at the upcoming BRICS Business Forum and Summit taking place in Johannesburg from 22 to 24 August 2023.
The panellists for the business roundtable included: Greg Munyai, Economic Counselor, High Commission of the Republic of South Africa in Nigeria; Busi Mabuza – Chairperson of the South African Chamber of the BRICS Business Council; Nomasonto Ndlovu – Chief Executive Officer (Acting) at South African Tourism; Taiwo Oyedele, Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers (NSACC), and Olufemi Saibu – Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Lagos.