Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies
During talks held during President Jacob Zuma's recent state visit to the UK - the delegation had included 216 South African business people - it was agreed there was a need to work towards doubling trade between the two countries.
"Just to put that into context, between 2000 and 2008, our two-way trade did in fact double and reached a total... of around R79 billion.
"But this trade was badly hit by the recession. In 2009, it in fact fell back to round about R40 billion. So doubling our trade is definitely a very attainable target," Davies said.
Responding to questions later, he indicated that restoring the trade to 2008 levels would take five years.
"I think we could anticipate that in the next five years we could double [the trade] again," he said.
According to a document distributed at the briefing, there is a "huge appetite among the business community to meet or exceed this objective".
Speaking at the briefing, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said South Africa and Africa were being seen in a new economic light.
"The big change now is that the emerging markets... are the future sources of growth in the world economy.
"That means that the African continent and its one billion people are looked at in a slightly different way from even a year and a half ago... This is where new opportunities for growth and expansion of business are.
"South Africa offers some advantages for companies to come in and use the country as a base for their business," he said.
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