LOUIS TRICHARDT - The Makhado Municipal Council has extended a hand of friendship and mutual understanding towards the city of Dandong in the People's Republic of China, with the signing of a Twinning Agreement between the two parties on March 13.

The singing of this historic agreement follows months of negotiations and a visit to the city of Dandong in the Liaoning Province by a seven-person delegation from the local municipality. In short, the agreement allows for the strengthening of friendly relations and co-operation between the citizens of the two cities, as well as to promote the exchange of experience and knowledge on levels of local administration, economics, science, town planning, transportation, health and the protection of the environment. The development of co-operation on levels of education and culture, especially with regard to the youth and sport, as well as the mass media, are also highlighted in the agreement.

In addition to the above, the agreement will also strive to encourage co-operation between representatives of the business community, banks and insurance services, medium and small business enterprises and industrial development in both cities. Evidence of industrial development is already visible locally with construction work on a R103 million colour steel metal sheet factory to commence in April. The development will be done in an area to be known as the Makhado Industrial Park to the south of Louis Trichardt in the existing industrial area. On completion, the factory will provide for 200 permanent local job opportunities.

Upon their return from China, the mayor of the Makhado Municipality, Cllr Brighton Tlakula on Monday addressed members of the media. He said that contrary to the predictions of the prophets of doom, their efforts and endeavour to attract investors are already bearing fruit. Cllr Tlakula said that there is no doubt that the Chinese/South African trade and investment mission, co-ordinated by Investment South Africa and the Department of Trade and Industry, is promoting local economic development in a number of municipalities. He added that it is an open secret that the Makhado Municipality cannot successfully meet its objectives as indicated in Section 152 of the Constitution of South Africa, unless it supplements its resources with foreign aid.

"A joint programme will be developed in order to ensure that this agreement is implemented. It is through this agreement that we expect to encourage business people from Dandong to invest in our municipality, while farmers and business people from this municipality will be expected to export their produce (products) to Dandong. This exercise will promote economic development between the two municipalities. We expect of the Dandong City Construction and Development Committee to have completed the construction of their factories before the end of this year," Cllr Tlakula said. Cllr Tlakula also deliberated on the singing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Makhado Municipal Council and the Liaoning sub-council of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) on March 14. The Liaoning sub-council is working closely with the China Chamber of International Commerce's (CCOIC) chamber in Liaoning. All of the above organisations play an important role in the Liaoning Province's relations to foreign trade, foreign fund introduction, as well as economic development and technological areas. "We held a number of meetings with business representatives and a number of industrialists from March 12 until 14. We also managed to visit a number of factories, which manufacture various products. Some of these business owners indicated their willingness to invest in our municipality. Their names cannot be revealed now as this might jeopardise our opportunities that lie in the negotiation process," Cllr Tlakula said.