Western Cape has great potential to attract Chinese investors

BEIJING, Nov. 17 (People’s Daily Online) -- Green energy, ocean economy, unique tourist attractions... these have become the key words of Western Cape of South Africa. "If you can do big investment, it's highly profitable and will have good productivity in the beautiful environment," said Helen Zille, Governor of Western Cape, South Africa, in an interview with People's Daily Online on her visit to China on Nov. 15.

"Chinese people are very entrepreneurial and looking forward to the next century and what the big investment is going to be in the coming years. One of the key things they have spotted is how good Western Cape is for some of those industries -- first of all, electronics, high level electronics manufacture. The other area that is going to be big in the coming century is green energy and green technology. Of course, Chinese entrepreneurs have spotted that and have been investing very much in harnessing the beautiful sun, the wonderful wind and waving energy which are the green oil wells in the future. They are going to produce most of the world's energy. And we have all of them in high abundance in the Western Cape. We also have the infrastructure that makes it possible for high tech development. Because much of Africa is not electrified, the prospect of electrifying Africa for the first time with green energies is magnificent business proposition. These are all the very exciting fields that Chinese entrepreneurs are identified in the Western Cape," Said Helen Zille.

"Western cape is not just a place to invest for the sake of the province or South Africa. It is also a great place to invest when you have an Africa strategy. I think Africa is a very important continent for the next 20 years. It’s a very strategic space to invest in,” added Western Cape Economic Opportunities Minister Alan Winde.

Western Cape has a beautiful coastline at the west coast. And a lot of oil and gas are produced off the coastline. There is a beautiful deep water port in Sodwana Bay. Hellen Zille laid out the prospective of ocean economy, saying: “Around the entire Sodwana Bay area, we are very confident that we will have a special economic zone which will give significant incentives for people to invest there and develop business. The interest has been enormous already. The other aspect is the food from the ocean. We have to make sure that is sustainably fished. Along the coast we have beautiful conditions for farming abalone and many fish species without destroying the environment. That opens enormous opportunities for partnership."