Business
South African province of Gauteng eyes Georgia in investment drive
The South African province of Gauteng sees Georgia as a place to begin erasing the negative stereotypes that can keep Americans from investing in their country.
A little larger than Georgia with 11 million people, Gauteng is the most populous of South Africa’s provinces. It contains Johannesburg, the commercial center, and Pretoria, the national capital.
A delegation led by premier of Gauteng premier and economic minister visited Atlanta as part of a U.S. investment recruitment mission. They also stopped in Denver.
South Africa was heralded for successfully hosting the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament, and its peaceful emergence from apartheid has been an uplifting story, but high unemployment rates, low education levels, a yawning wealth gap and high levels of HIV infection continue to dog the country.
“Of course, we know there are perceptions about our country and it is our responsibility to change those,” said Qedani Dorothy Mahlangu, Gauteng’s minister of economic development.
That will require bringing more people to South Africa and ramping up online marketing efforts in the U.S., said Ms. Mahlangu.
