Johannesburg is the latest 2010 World Cup host city in South Africa to sign a bilateral agreement with the UK that will ensure ongoing business collaboration beyond next year's event.
The city is the third in South Africa – following Durban and Cape Town – to sign up for the Host2Host programme initiated by the UK, hosts of the next Olympic Games.
The Host2Host programme is an initiative of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), started over a year ago to forge business partnerships with other countries involved in hosting major sporting events.
Amongst other things, the programme focuses on small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) setting up partnerships and getting a trade foothold into the host countries. The initiative grew out of the realisation that cities needed to capitalise on establishing post-event economic legacies.
The Host2Host agreement was signed on August 27 at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, with the executive director for economic development, Jason Ngobeni, standing in for executive mayor Amos Masondo. Sir Alan Collins, the UK’s 2012 ambassador signed on behalf of the UK delegation.
Ngobeni said the agreement would not only help in furthering local business opportunities but would also assist with the city's SMME development programme, which is now in its fifth year.
The programme was making headway in "helping SMMEs to get their products export-ready, with one of the programme's beneficiaries recently landing a R3.9bn (£309mn) contract", claimed Ngobeni.
Johannesburg will have two stadiums in the World Cup 2010 and also boasts the opening match, one semi-final and the final.
The signing of the Host2Host agreement was the culmination of various collaborations between the UKTI branch in Johannesburg and the Economic Development Department of the city, confirmed Brian Gallagher, the British trade commissioner in Johannesburg.
Collins said: "The first tangible assistance will be what remaining needs the city has in terms of 2010.”
South Africa is the UK’s most important trade partner in Africa, with two-way trade between the countries amounting to R102bn (£8bn) a year.
Other cities to have signed up to the scheme include Vancouver, which is hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics; Singapore, the venue for the first Summer Youth Olympics next year; and Sochi, the host of the 2014 Winter Games.
Talks are currently continuing with various cities in New Zealand, which is hosting the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
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