The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) will host the economic policy dialogue to discuss the role that big business can play to enhance the Local Procurement and localisation. The Director-General of the dti, Mr Lionel October says buying locally manufactured goods and products will go a long way in creating jobs in South Africa.

October states that the dialogue will reflect on the Procurement Accord that government and other Social Partners (Organised Business, Organised Labour and Community) signed on 31 October 2011 as an outcome of social dialogue on the New Growth Path.

The dialogue session will take place on Wednesday, 30 November 2016 at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), Midrand.

“Through this policy advocacy platform, the dti seeks to engage the social partners and other strategic stakeholders into an inclusive conversation, to reflect on the achievements and shortfalls that each of them has recorded in fulfilling their respective commitments since the inception of the Accord, while taking into account its envisaged goal to create five million new jobs by 2020,” adds October.

He highlights that the ultimate goal of the dialogue session is to secure private sector’s commitment to support local manufacturing, boost jobs and local industries as well as to increase investments in domestic manufacturing.

“The Local Procurement Accord seeks to empower South Africans to implement a diversity of commitments that are presented in the Accord. It aims to facilitate the realisation of the goals of the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP), to galvanise the private sector, organised labour, community as well as government into forging a strong partnership to encourage procurement of locally produced goods and products, as a concerted endeavour to create five million jobs by 2020,” says October.

The session will be attended by representatives of government, organised labour, industry, academia and other relevant stakeholders.