Knysna-Plett Herald | New era of economic growth in Western Cape

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New era of economic growth in Western Cape
09:55 (GMT+2), Tue, 08 May 2012

Western Cape Economic and Tourism Minister Allan Winde and George Business Chamber President Imel Rautenbach are busy forging new partnerships. Photo: Pauline Lourens

SOUTHERN CAPE BUSINESS NEWS - An innovative body which brings together economic players from across the province to drive the growth of the Western Cape economy was launched last week. The biggest challenge is poverty and one way to solve this social issue is to grow the economy and create jobs.

Speaking at the launch, Minister of Economic Development and Tourism Minister Allan Winde said: "The launch of the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership (EDP) signals a new era for our economy and especially for those parts of our province that have historically felt disconnected from the economic centre.

"This body will allow us all - big and small business, academia, sector bodies and civil society - to work together to inspire inclusive, job creating growth in our region, which has seen largely jobless growth in the past decade.

"Its first tasks will be to devise a long-term vision and strategy for the province's economy, and simultaneously to devise a community works' programme that will create jobs in the short-term. We will also run an economic leadership training programme to improve the quality of local economic decision making, and we will bring economic intelligence organisations together to ensure that our future economic plans are based on irrefutable evidence."

Minister Winde continued: "This partnership will be the tiller that allows us to proactively steer our economy, which has been largely rudderless up until now. We are determined to succeed so that we can create better lives for all the people of our province."

Premier Helen Zille, who also attended the launch, said that the EDP will pull together the best minds of the economy to create growth and jobs in an innovative way that moves people out of poverty. She expressed the Western Cape Government's commitment to playing an active role in the EDP, and to ensuring that the government puts policies in place that create an enabling environment for the region to achieve economic growth.