Mr Sihle Zikalala MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs and the Leader of Government Business, in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, attended the 47th World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2017 in Davos, Switzerland in January.

Here, world leaders and business leaders gathered with the common purpose of finding solutions to the challenges facing the global community today and to chart a new path for inclusive, global economic development.

Noteworthy, in this regard is that the Province of KwaZulu-Natal was the only province invited to join the national delegation, which comprised government ministers, captains of industry, leaders of civil society and senior public officials. The South African delegation was led by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The theme for the 47th instalment of the WEF was “Responsive and Responsible Leadership”. Generally the proceedings, centred around the Fourth Industrial Revolution and what the advent of the rapid advancements in technology mean for the rest of the world.

The participation of KwaZulu-Natal was premised, in the main, on what lessons could be derived in order to respond to the social and economic challenges facing the province.

Mr Zikalala said, “Moreover, we also sought to ensure that we leverage on whatever economic growth and development opportunities that we could identify, not only for the benefit of KwaZulu-Natal but also the country and indeed the entire African continent.”

“As a province we recognise investment attraction and retention to be critical pillars of our strategy for accelerated and inclusive economic development. Thus, for us, the attraction of foreign direct investment is a viable strategy for growing the economy and for solving such challenges as unemployment, the acquisition of skills and technology transfer. In this regard, our attendance of the WEF platform was also premised on the need to enhance our prospects as a province to attract much-needed investments and promote trade between ourselves and other countries. It was also about engaging in conversations with global political and business
leaders with a view to gleaning the latest approaches in terms of the trajectory of world development.”