Writethru: South Africa calls for further Asian-African cooperation in infrastructure

South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said here Tuesday that infrastructure holds great potential for Asian-African cooperation.

The deputy president urged Asian countries with capital and technical expertise to partner with Africa.

"Africa's ability to trade is hampered by a lack of physical infrastructure," Cyril Ramaphosa said while addressing the Asian- African Business Summit.

Many African countries "with inadequate rail, road and port infrastructure, are simply unable to productively exploit their abundant natural resources", Ramaphosa said.

Asian countries, with their skills, capital, and technical and engineering expertise and know-how, can "partner with African countries in developing this critical area", he stressed.

The deputy president, who represents South African President Jacob Zuma in a series of meetings here, said that a number of Asian countries are participating actively in infrastructure development projects on the African continent. "We say may this continue."

In addition to infrastructure, the two continents can also cooperate in agriculture and manufacturing, Ramaphosa said.

Because of the diversity of crops that are cultivated on the African continent, Africa has the potential to increase the nutritional value of global food more than any other region in the world, he said.

"However, for African farmers to benefit fully from their contribution to the global food supply, they need to be more involved in the food value chain from seed to market. African countries should seek to add economic value locally," he noted.

The deputy president also highlighted the importance of intercontinental-cooperation in manufacturing, saying the manufacturing sector is "key to economic transformation in Africa" .

Manufacturing is vital to Africa's economic future as it can contribute quite substantially to improving growth, reducing unemployment and addressing the balancing of payment issues, he underscored.

Africa has the capacity to become a manufacturing success that Asia has become, he added.

Ramaphosa also hailed the business summit and events of its kind as platforms that help connect Asian and African countries.

"By strengthening South-South cooperation, we can begin a new era in global trade, one that will be driven and sustained by two of the world's fastest-growing regions," Ramaphosa added. Endi