By Des Erasmus
South Africa is exploring the establishment of an aerospace and defence special economic zone (SEZ) in the Western Cape as it seeks to revive an industry that has lost about 90% of its workforce since 1990.
Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau outlined the proposal in a keynote address on Monday at the Defence Industry Lekgotla at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria, where nearly 300 delegates from government, the military, industry, labour, and academia gathered for the three-day conference.
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He said the cluster would draw on the province’s concentration of defence, aerospace and commercial space companies to develop an integrated industrial ecosystem.
He did not give a timetable for the proposal.
The proposal formed part of a call at the lekgotla for the government to coordinate military procurement, export
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