Remarks by Dr Rob Davies at the Centre for Conflict Studies Public Dialogue

Cape Town, 17 February 2014

At the outset, let me thank the Centre for Conflict Studies and its Director, Dr Adekeye Adebajo, for convening this public dialogue on what is clearly an issue of growing international and national interest.

I want to congratulate the Centre for organizing the Seminar on International Investment Agreements and thank all the distinguished participants for their attendance, particularly those who have travelled from outside South Africa to be here. I am informed that this two-day Seminar, which started today, has already engaged in good discussion and addressed many of the questions I will raise in my remarks.

In my comments today, I want to touch on South Africa’s longstanding policy approach to foreign direct investment (FDI); our concerns with international investment agreements; and, in light of this, the work the South African Government currently undertaking in this important area. I will conclude with some comments for future work in this area.

To provide some context, I begin by recalling the South African Government’s commitment to an economic development strategy that will accelerate growth along a path that generates sustainable, decent jobs in order to reduce the poverty and the extreme inequalities that characterise our society and economy.

Download the full speech here.
See also: Investment bill ‘adds to uncertainty’ in SA (BDlive, 18 February 2014)