The Western Cape Cabinet has approved the development of a Memorandum of Understanding between the province and the United States (US) State of California for the agriculture sector. The agreement will see the province collaborate with California on key projects in the sector.
Premier Alan Winde says there will be numerous trade and investment opportunities including technology, the green economy and tourism.
“So many similarities to the Western Cape and California, so we can work on climate change issues that affect agriculture. Looking at the tourism numbers and how the US numbers are really growing very nicely and in fact during this time of recovery from COVID-19 its really good to see that our top foreign tourism coming into the region of the Western Cape is from the USA. There’s lots of work still to go but it’s really a great relationship that has been growing,” says Winde.
Meanwhile, the Western Cape Department of Agriculture says the current outlook for apple and pear exports shows that the sector may be recovering from the impact of an ongoing drought.
The Western Cape contributes 85% of the country’s apple exports.
Agricultural sector upbeat about this year:
Additional reporting: Carmel Loggenberg-Roberts
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