South Africa and Qatar are in talks to have direct shipping links to boost trade between the two countries, South Africa’s Ambassador to Qatar HE Faizel Moosa said on Wednesday.
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Talking to Qatar Tribune on the sidelines of a meeting between the officials of Qatar Chamber and members of a trade delegation from South Africa in Doha, Moosa said that talks are going on to have direct shipping links between Richards Bay in South Africa and Hamad Port in Qatar.
“The idea is to use Hamad Port as re-export hub for South African goods in the Middle East market and Richards Bay port as re-export hub for Qatari products in the African continent,” he said.
“South Africa’s Transnet National Ports Authority is working on partnering with Qatar’s shipping company Milaha to achieve this goal,” he said.
A direct shipping link between the two countries will go a long way in boosting trade ties between the two countries, he said adding it will also ensure that Qatar gets sufficient supplies of food products from South Africa on a regular basis.
“We witnessed marked increase in supplies of food products from South Africa to Qatar especially after the blockade. We are ready to increase our volume if required,” he said.
While the trade volume between the two counties was marginally down in 2018, the envoy said, the trade has picked up again this year.
The bilateral trade between the two countries went up by almost 10 percent in the first quarter of 2019, he said.
Addressing the meeting earlier, Qatar Chamber First Vice-Chairman Mohammed bin Ahmed bin Twar said, “Trade volume between Qatar and South Africa reached $350 million in 2018.”
He noted that the South African investments in Qatar is estimated to have reached $8.9 billion.
He said that Qatar’s private sector was interested in identifying investment opportunities available in South Africa.
He also expressed Qatar’s willingness to receive South African investments.
Twar said that Qatari private sector strongly participates in projects being executed in the country in sectors like education, health, transport and those are related to World Cup 2022. “This opens the scope for South Africa companies to access Qatari market and build genuine partnerships with their Qatari counterparts,” he said.
Harold Manamela, deputy director of export promotion for Middle East region within the department of trade and industry in South Africa, headed the 20-member trade delegation. He delivered a presentation titled “Investment and trade opportunities between Qatar and South Africa” on the occasion.
The meeting was also attended by QC Board Member Mohamed bin Ahmed Al Obaidli.
