Allow me in the first place to say how pleased I am to be here today. You are a very important organization. And I am here to both offer some information and ideas as well as to learn from you. So please engage with me - vigorously, rigorously. Let's see this meeting as a two-way process. Government and the majority party, after all, don't have all the answers. And you could be of enormous help. Yes, yes, it may sound like a cliché, I know - but together, we can, of course, do more. In any case, government and business have to work together. We have no choice.
This is the case more than ever before.
And this is certainly the case with local economies and local economic development (LED). Not just because of the impact of the global economic crisis on our country. Not just because over a million jobs have been lost. Not just because our growth rates are sluggish. But also because we are committed to building a developmental state. Because we now have a National Planning Minister and an Economic Development Minister and are about to establish a National Planning Commission. Because our all-important Local Government Turnaround Strategy (LGTAS) stresses the importance of LED. Because we are determined to strengthen the cooperative governance system across national, provincial and local government. All of which signals greater opportunity for local economic development and more effective partnerships between the private sector and municipalities. If there are many lessons we've had to draw from the global economic crisis that has fallen on us, one at least is the importance of LED.
And if we're talking about "Cooperative Partnerships to Stimulate and Grow Local Economies and SMME's", as it applies to our Ministry, essentially we're talking about LED. It is this then that I'll primarily focus on.
"The private sector, the cooperative sector consisting of formal and informal, social enterprises, as well as the income generating community projects and survival businesses in the informal sector, that operates in municipal regions are the engines of economic growth. Their existence and ability to produce competitively and generate greater levels of income and employment, is dependent on an active State role in generating the appropriate and necessary conditions, stimulus and governance efficiencies and in constantly monitoring the results".
By identifying the private sector, social enterprises and informal businesses operating in municipalities as the engines of economic growth, government is stressing the significance of local economies to economic growth.  It is clear, though, that for this engine to function effectively, the state has to play its role. And, yes, we agree we are not doing enough. But we intend to. And with your cooperation, we will. Especially you. You are progressive business people. We take seriously what you say, and we expect you to be dynamic and far-sighted.