Premier Zille Leads Delegation to Sao Paulo, Brazil, for Sixth Regional Leaders' Summit | Western Cape Government

News

News

Premier Zille Leads Delegation to Sao Paulo, Brazil, for Sixth Regional Leaders' Summit

9 April 2012

On Tuesday, 10 April, Premier Helen Zille will depart for Sao Paulo, Brazil, to lead a delegation comprising senior office bearers and officials of the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town to the Sixth Regional Leaders' Summit, which will be held on 11 and 12 April. The Regional Leaders' Summit is a biennial meeting of seven regional governments with the aim of fostering productive information sharing as well as seeking opportunities for bilateral and multilateral commitments to joint projects and programmes in areas of common interest.

Premier Zille said, "The summit aims to strengthen cultural, social, economic and political partnerships and to maximise on opportunities for collaboration. For the Western Cape Government, the result must, among others, be increased trade and investment between our regions in order to promote the job-creating economic growth we are pursuing as a region. Together with other governments in the Regional Leaders' Forum, we also seek to find new ways to remain competitive in the globalised economy and move steadily towards fulfilling our vision of creating poverty-free societies in each of our regions."

The Western Cape delegation, which includes Western Cape Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Alan Winde, will engage with its counterparts to renew and strengthen strategic partnerships developed over the last ten years and to review the track record of co-operation since the fifth summit in 2010 with a view to ensuring better outcomes over the next two years. Minister Winde said: "The forum presents an opportunity for the Western Cape Government to engage with other regional governments, some of whom are facing the same economic challenges we are facing. The lessons we learn will no doubt be valuable in contributing to our strategic objective of creating the conditions necessary for inclusive economic growth and job creation in our province."

Meeting under the summit theme "Sustainable Energy and Development: The Role of Sub-national Entities", the seven participating governments are Georgia (United States of America), Upper Austria (Austria), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Quebec (Canada), Shandong (People's Republic of China), Bavaria (Germany) and Western Cape (South Africa).

The previous summit in 2010 was hosted by the Western Cape Government in Cape Town and Premier Helen Zille has occupied the presidency of the grouping for the last two years. The position will rotate to the 2012 host, Sao Paulo, at the upcoming summit.

NB: For general information purposes, please note that Western Cape Health Minister, Theuns Botha, will serve as Acting Premier while Premier Helen Zille is in Brazil.

Media Enquiries: 

Zak Mbhele
Spokesperson for Premier Helen Zille
Tel: 021 483 4584
Cell: 083 600 2349
E-mail: Zak.Mbhele@pgwc.gov.za