speech
Cyril Ramaphosa  ·  2026-06-10 08:07

President Cyril Ramaphosa hosts the South Africa-Kenya Business Forum. (4)

To make sure that we live up to the powerhouses of the two economies. Kenya is a powerhouse in East Africa. South Africa is a powerhouse in Southern Africa. And together we become a greater powerhouse on our continent. Taking advantage of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, President Ruto has correctly said this Africa Continental Free Trade Area gives us all on the African continent an historic and unprecedented opportunity to make sure that we trade with each other. To make sure that we create business opportunities on a free tariff basis. When I know as a businessman that I can go and sell something in Egypt, something that I make in Cameroon, and the movement of what I sell is going to be facilitated by this trade agreement. That should boost my business opportunities. And when we know that you know the payment systems are uniquely African and can be utilized for enhancing the businesses. So, the Africa Continental Free Trade Area is the best thing after the formation of the AU. It is the best thing that our continent has come up with. It has created the greatest opportunity. The one other great opportunity we created was what Mr. Stavros was talking about earlier, the pharmaceuticals, particularly vaccines. When COVID happened, we were caught almost blindsided. We didn't have a vaccine manufacturing facilities in Africa. We fought tooth and nail to allow and to enable African countries to be given that opportunity and to grab the opportunity to be able to manufacture vaccines. We now have the capability. That is another great opportunity that collectively that we fought for. Kenya was in the lead, South Africa was in the lead, and a number of other countries were in the lead to open space and opportunity for entrepreneurs to come forward and begin to do business, to make money, so that we grow our continent together. So, I expect that this forum, building on the success of our meeting that we held in Nairobi when we started this business engagement, will in the future deliver real outcomes that President Ruto spoke about. And the real outcomes must be seeing business people coming to the stage and saying, "We are now going to invest X amount in this and that industry." Ladies and gentlemen, that way we will be moving forward with greater determination. We will have gone way beyond just making speeches like I'm doing now on the stage. We will be putting into practice what we dream that Africa should be.