Belgium-based Wallonia Export-Investment Agency (Awex) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI’s) investment promotion agency, InvestSA, last month.

InvestSA provides a number of services for investors, including facilitation of the investment value chain, specialist advisory services and coordination between the various line Ministries, as well as assisting in facilitating the clearance for registration, licensing and permits.

The MoU between InvestSA and Awex will enhance reciprocal foreign direct investment between South Africa and Belgium, as well as enhance knowledge transfer, potential investor referral and mutual support in investment promotion activities.

“At Awex, we support the internationalisation of our companies through different approaches, the most typical being export promotion, but, when [proximity] or characteristics of a market so require, we encourage certain forms of expansion abroad by establishing a local office or partnership with a local company,” explains Awex CEO Pascale Delcomminette.

Awex thus identified the opportunity for trade with South Africa through InvestSA’s One Stop Shop platform launch in February, as the platform provides support for companies in the Wallonia region of Belgium to expand in Africa.

“For our companies, South Africa represents much more than a market of 53-million inhabitants. South Africa is . . . a gateway to Southern Africa or even sub-Saharan Africa. “A local establishment in South Africa can be used as a stepping stone to tap into a potential market of one-billion inhabitants,” says Awex Johannesburg head Jean-Pierre Muller, highlighting South Africa’s ability to act as the access point to the rest of the continent.

Delcomminette adds that Awex is tasked with attracting foreign investors to Wallonia and that South African companies offer “great potential in this respect”.

“No one knows better than the DTI that South African companies are keen to tap into the European Union market, and those are precisely the ones that we target primarily in our investment promotion activities,” he says.

The MoU was signed by Belgium ambassador to South Africa Hubert Cooreman, InvestSA acting head Yunnus Hoosen and Muller at the DTI campus, in Pretoria.

Muller tells Engineering News that Awex assists companies in establishing themselves in Wallonia and can provide up to 25% of the financial grant value for the purchase of fixed assets such as land, property or equipment.

He highlights that Awex also has a significant global network, and companies investing in Belgium will have access to Awex’s 109 offices in 69 countries worldwide.

“Last year, South Africa was selected as our focus market because we believe that there is huge potential here . . . and in the neighbouring countries. Also, markets in the Southern African Development Community nations are somewhat untapped by Wallonian companies,” Muller says.

He adds that exports to South Africa totalled about €110-million last year; however, he asserts that this is relatively low considering the significant potential of the local market.

Muller notes that one of the most significant advantages companies in Wallonia have is their proximity to the trimodal logistics facility, Trilogiport, in Liège.

Construction of the infrastructure works at the facility, which has cargo transport access by water, rail and road, was completed and officially inaugurated in November last year by King Phillippe Filip. Once completed, the Trilogiport will have 175 000 m2 of warehousing space and, owing to Belgium’s access to Europe’s extensive transport infrastructure network, offers companies access to about 56-million European consumers within a 250 km radius of the facilities.

The Trilogiport is located on the Albert Canal, which flows into the Liège, with access to several ports in France, the Netherlands and Germany to several seaports, namely Antwerp and Zeebrugge, in Belgium; Rotterdam, in the Netherlands; and Dunkirk, in France.

The cargo rail network in Liège is also directly linked to Europe’s freight rail and highway network, connecting the facility to a larger number of European export markets.

The Trilogiport is also in close proximity to Liège Airport, which is one of Europe’s busiest airports in terms of airfreight volumes.