In a bid to enhance bilateral trade and investment ties, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) in collaboration with Wesgro will be hosting a Virtual Wine mission to South Korea. Wesgro, is the Western Cape’s Destination Marketing, Investment and Trade Promotion Agency. The Event will showcase 10 wineries from the Western Cape region and will take place on 27 August 2020 via the Zoom platform at 8H00.
The wineries will present their respective wines to an audience of 20 South Korean wine importers and distributors, who will have an opportunity to taste the wines from these wineries, which were shipped to South Korea ahead of the mission.
According to the Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ms Nomalungelo Gina, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only impacted the healthcare sector negatively, but the economy in its entirety. She adds that exports from South Africa have been hindered, owing to travel restrictions, necessitating trade practitioners to develop new platforms for business engagements.
“A sector that has been particularly impacted by COVID-19 has been the wine industry, owing to the ban placed on alcohol sales by government and the accompanying travel protocols. Wesgro identified this to be a critical sector requiring support and had embarked on the concept of a virtual mission that would enable the promotion of small to large size wineries to new markets,” adds Gina.
Gina states that Wines of South Africa (WOSA) a marketing organisation for South African wine exports, the South African Embassy and Wesgro, are confident that the wineries selected represent a good mix of established versus up-and-coming brands that have the capabilities to service the South Korean market. Furthermore, they have the potential to create the greatest multiplier effect in the Western Cape if successful in this market.
“South Korea is an important partner for South Africa in the Asian region. Our objective is to strengthen and deepen economic linkages through strong business and governmental cooperation between the two countries. Total trade between the two countries has been growing steadily and amounted to R34 billion in 2019 with the trade balance in South Africa’s favour. South Africa’s exports have also demonstrated an upward trajectory over the years from R13.8 billion in 2015 to R21.6 billion in 2019. However, we need to focus our efforts on diversifying the trade basket towards ensuring more value added goods are exported going forward,” says Gina.
Please use this link to register and login to the South Korea Virtual Wine Tasting.
https://wesgro.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XWFjFQcYQWWsS7mKigEOWQ
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe-Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: (012) 394 1650
Mobile: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Issued by: The Department of Trade and Industry
Follow us on Twitter: @the_dti
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