President Cyril Ramaphosa has outlined how South Africa hopes to leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to support the country’s reindustrialisation.

Speaking at the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development Summit (TICAD9) under way in Japan, Ramaphosa said South Africa was seeking to deepen intra-African trade while becoming a “continental industrial platform from which Japanese and other global firms can export into Africa”.

“We are actively working with the AfCFTA Secretariat to finalise value-chain protocols in automotive, agro-processing, pharmaceuticals and textiles.

“We support Rules of Origin harmonisation to encourage manufacturing in Africa and the upgrading of border infrastructure to enable the faster movement of goods,” he said, adding that South Africa’s reindustrialisation agenda was focused on localisation, green energy and regional integration.

In a separate address to the South Africa-Japan Business Forum, hosted on the sidelines of TICAD9, Ramaphosa further underlined South Africa’s gateway potential into the rest of Africa for Japanese firms.

While noting that 270 Japanese companies already had a presence in the South African economy, and were sustaining over 200 000 local jobs, he added: “Our strategic position on the African continent, our developed infrastructure and active private sector make South Africa a strong base for regional expansion.”

He invited Japanese companies to co-invest in value chains anchored in South Africa that served the continental market of 1.4-billion people.

Speaking against the backdrop of the imposition of 30% ‘reciprocal tariffs’ on South African exports to the US, Ramaphosa also urged Japan to ease market access for African goods.

“Recent tariff actions by the United States on African goods have highlighted the need to diversify our export markets.

“South Africa is a leading exporter of agricultural produce and high quality industrial products such as auto vehicles and components.

“We call on our Japanese counterparts to support tariff cooperation to ease market access for African goods,” Ramaphosa said.

In his address to Japanese businesspeople, meanwhile, he stressed that Japan was a key pillar in South Africa’s market diversification outreach.

Referring to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s willingness to adjust tariffs for strained partners, Ramaphosa argued that there were opportunities for South Africa and Japan to collaborate on integrated supply chains within strategic sectors. Here, he made specific reference to battery minerals, automotive components, renewable energy equipment and hydrogen technologies.

“We are world leaders in the supply of platinum group metals and manganese. We are in the top five of vanadium producers and have untapped potential in rare earths,” he added.

“We invite co-investment on manganese, vanadium, platinum group metals and rare earths beneficiation aimed at the clean energy and mobility markets.”

Ramaphosa also pointed to opportunities to expand agricultural exports, describing South Africa as a top-tier global agricultural exporter, with strong sanitary and phytosanitary standards and traceability systems, with a growing range of niche and high-value products.

“Globally, we are ranked the number one exporter of Rooibos tea, the number one exporter of macadamia nuts, the second largest exporter of fresh citrus and the fifth largest exporter by volume of wine.”