SUMMIT OVERVIEW 2015 SOUTH AFRICA – ITALY SUMMIT SECOND EDITION Building a community of leaders for growing their enterprises in the two countries and continents Thursday, October 1 and Friday, October 2, 2015 Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town 76 Orange Street, Western Cape, 8001, South Africa Participants The Summit is open to selected CEOs, business leaders and representatives of Italian and South African institutions. Participation at the Summit is by personal invitation only. Contents Following last year’s successful event, the Summit aims to become the annual gathering for the political, government and business leadership of Italy and South Africa. The goal of the Summit is to strengthen relations and bilateral investments through in-depth discussion about the strategic opportunities between the two countries and their respective continents. The Summit provides a unique opportunity for the top management of Italian and South African companies to take a leading role in the growing market of Sub-Saharan Africa . The main topics on the agenda are: ‒ South Africa and Italy relations in the current regional and global geopolitical scenario; ‒ Agri-business value chains in South Africa and SADC; ‒ SADC regional integration and investment opportunities ; ‒ Collaborative models with SMEs and entrepreneurship for growth; ‒ Urban development and smart technologies; and ‒ Innovation in banks and payment systems as a driver for socio-economic development.
Contents and proposals of the position papers prepared by The European House - Ambrosetti under the guidance of an international Advisory Board, will be presented during the Summit. The papers examine the potential for partnerships between companies of the two countries in the digital payment, collaborative models with SMEs and agribusiness sectors . The Summit will bring together selected CEOs, business leaders, leading economists and governmental authorities from Italy, South Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Summit Sessions Overview Geopolitical and Economic Scenario Strengthening the “South-South axis” has become one of the key issues into the new geo-political scenario for the African continent. The relationships between industrialized economies and African countries are now facing a new phase of increasing political dialogue and economic and social cooperation. At the same time, also the network among the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has been strengthened, with the new challenge to balance principles and different national interests. In this scenario, South Africa can be a gateway to a continent with immense cultural and economic potential that is undergoing deep cultural and economic transformation; the country is also an important member of the BRICS, the new vibrant economies of the 21 st century. However, the current geo-political situation risks to weaken the political attention towards foreign policy relations with Europe, which remains not only the main trading partner for South Africa, but also a reference player for dealing with specific key issues like migration and security (democracy, energy, food, etc.). To date, Italy’s presence in this exciting entrepreneurial context is still minimal, restricted mainly to a small number of enterprises operating in the infrastructure and energy sectors. The reasons are numerous and pertain to organization as well as cultural spheres. Recently, thanks to a renewed dynamism by Italian institutions in developing more coordinated and systemic initiatives (and also in consideration of the fact that several North African countries are experiencing periods of extended political crisis), Sub-Saharan Africa features prominently within the remit of Italian companies’ international policies. In this framework, South Africa represents a huge opportunity for Italy: it is a market with ample potential, but also a platform from which to launch business operations in numerous emerging Sub- Saharan countries and a new constructive dialogue between the leaders of the two countries and continents to which they belong: Africa and Europe. The role of Agri-Business Value Chains in South Africa and SADC Agri-business potential in SSA is huge, the issue is how to make it work: Sub-Saharan Africa has 202 million of hectares of available cultivable land (compared to 123 million in Latin America) and its consumer food markets is expected to grow from $330 to $1,000 billion between 2010 and 2030 (4x times in urban areas; 2x times in rural areas). Agro-industrial parks are a key tool for overcoming the issues affecting the agri-food sector in SADC. Agro-industrial parks have been largely implemented in many areas of the world (China, India, East Europe, Israel, Latin America, etc.): despite the commitment of African Governments and international donors and organizations, agro-industrial parks in SSA, as of today, are still under their potential.
Agro-industrial parks require several critical steps that could hinder their implementation: planning: (park position, size of scale, use of space, productions selection, etc.), economics/investments (PPP schemes, financing and risk mitigation mechanisms, employment, knowledge, infrastructure, etc.), transport/mobility (traffic and transport flows, accessibility to the final markets, etc.), organization/governance model (park management, activities, relations with internal stakeholders, relations with out-growers, etc.), accountability/communication (standards, high-quality and sustainable production, food security, etc.). Italy and South Africa could establish profitable partnerships to fully exploit agro-industrial parks, in terms of: ― Governance/management: Italian cooperative system is a model internationally renowned. ― Technologies: South Africa has leading technologies in aquafarming and for maize, sugar cane, wine and deciduous fruit, whilst Italy has leading technologies for cold chains, seeds, fertilizers, water management and irrigation. ― Machinery: Italy is the 3 rd largest world producer of agricultural machinery and the 1 st largest world producer of packaging and packing equipment. ― Industry: agro- processing industry is the 2 nd manufacturing sector in South Africa; food industry in Italy is the 1 st economic sector with approx. $200 billion turnover. ― R&D: South Africa is the 2 nd biggest spender in agro-industry related R&D in SSA ($250 million in 2013), whilst Italy has 25 universities and numerous scientific centers with world-class capabilities. ― Market: South Africa is a growing market (+20% in food demand by 2050) and offers easy access to SADC regional market (SSA’s population is forecast to reach 2 billion by 2050); international markets available thanks to higher quality standards. SADC Regional Integration and Investment Opportunities Sub-Saharan Africa is an area comprising countries with the highest growth rates: over the past decade its GDP has tripled, its consumption quadrupled and the region saw its investment levels rise from $42 billion to $61 billion between 2013 and 2014. South Africa remains at the top of the list of destination countries in Africa, measured by number of projects (116 in 2014 compared to 57 in Kenya and 50 in Mozambique), despite a 15% decline compared to 2013. To face up to this development, the leading Sub-Saharan countries have launched a comprehensive investment plan covering infrastructures, energy, construction as well as water systems and communication networks. In particular, during 2015 the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) has been revised, allowing a synchronization of the four SADC regional integration pillars between 2015 and 2020 (industrial development and market integration; infrastructure development; peace and security cooperation). The implementation of regional infrastructural network (such as mobility and energy) is pivotal, since it is a key enabler to economic integration and development, and more importantly, in support of SADC industrialization efforts. Then, SADC aims to achieve a common market by agreeing common policies on production regulation area in 2015, monetary union through macro-economic convergence by 2016, a single currency and becoming an economic union by 2018.
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