May 8, 2008

S Africa seeks QIA funds; sees ‘good JV prospects’

President Mbeki, flanked by Mpahlwa and Sheikh Nawaf on his right and al-Kuwari and Zulu at yesterday’s Qatar South African business forum

DOHA: South Africa is seeking investment from the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) in its energy, finance, telecom, infrastructure, tourism and real estate sectors.
The African country, whose oil company Sasol is helping Qatar Petroleum convert liquefied natural gas (LNG) into liquid fuel, is also seeking LNG from Doha to meet increasing demand in its power sector.
Moreover, the country saw “good prospects for joint ventures and partnerships between the corporate sectors of the two countries as bilateral trade has not been optimised”.
Pretoria has also offered its expertise in astronomy to Qatar, which can prove to be a hub for the Middle East for research in the field.
“Given our partnership, we can take advantage of it (to acquire LNG from Qatar) to meet the local demand,” South African President Thabo Mbeki told a business forum, organised by the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI).
Partnership between the two countries has seen the establishment of $900mn Oryx gas-to-liquid (GTL) plant, a joint venture between Sasol and Qatar Petroleum.
It is one of the largest joint venture projects involving a South African company in the Middle East, “enhancing our stature as one of the reliable technology partners”, said South African Trade Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa, who is accompanying the presidential delegation on an official visit to Qatar.
He said his country had no oil resources but produced fuels from coal and “the Oryx project is certainly that we want to consider for South Africa as well”.
Asked whether any LNG deal had been signed between the two countries, the trade minister said nothing had been finalised and that discussions were on.
“I believe that (South Africa’s) mineral minister and CEO of Petro Africa attended a meeting this morning and the discussions are going. Petro Africa will be sending a team next week,” Mpahlwa said.
Mbeki said though Qatar and South Africa enjoyed good political and economic relations, there was a need to further strengthen the ties and that the Qatari companies can use it as a base for expanding their reach out to African continent.
“We will be interested in facilitating partnerships between the business communities,” Mbeki said.
The partnerships could extend well beyond the two countries since South Africa “is a gateway not only to the African continent but as well to Central and South America and South and East Asia, Mpahlwa said.
According to him, trade between the two countries stood at about South African rand 1.2bn (or about QR500mn) in 2007 and the trade surplus was in favour of Qatar.
South Africa imported mainly crude oil and petroleum products (excluding gas) from Qatar, which in turn, imported vehicles, aircraft, heavy machinery and chemical products from the former.
According to South Africa Ambassador Vincent Zulu, there were five South African companies in Qatar with Sasol being the largest, the others including environment and food processing units.
The prospects for enhanced cooperation between the two countries were great and the growing bilateral trade testified to the positive trend, Mpahlwa said.
“These figures (of bilateral trade) clearly suggest that we can do more as trade has not been optimised,” he added.
Reasoning why trade has not been to the desired level, he said there was a lack of necessary information and understanding regarding business cultures and opportunities.
“Now, it is the correct time for us to unleash the myriad investment possibilities, especially through closer strategic cooperation in sectors including energy, communication, tourism, science and technology and infrastructure,” Mpahlwa said.
He said South African businesses involved in financial services, banking, tourism, property development, consulting and investment agencies, oil and gas were “looking for long-term partnerships, joint venture and solid and sustainable relationships”.
Asked about the involvement of QIA in South Africa, he confirmed that they were in talks with Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, adding “we are working with QIA to identify projects”.
“We will certainly invite them in telecoms, finance, infrastructure, tourism infrastructure and the real estate sectors,” Mpahlwa said, adding that there were no restrictions on foreign investments and repatriation of profits.
Regarding astronomy, Mbeki said South Africa had done a lot of work in the field and in his discussions with HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, he offered the country’s help to Qatar so that Doha can be a principal hub for the Middle East.
QCCI Executive Committee member Mohamed bin Ahmed bin Towar al-Kuwari said the chamber was open to having a permanent Qatar-South African business committee in order to have positive trade relations between the two countries.
He said Qatar has a promising economic climate, which enabled the country to emerge as one of the main foreign investment attracting destinations.
Sheikh Nawaf bin Nasser al-Thani of Qatar Businessmen Association also attended the function.