Cape Town ranked among top cities for foreign direct investment

Cape Town - Cape Town has been listed as one of the top cities worldwide on the Global Cities of the Future winners 2016/17 for foreign direct investment (FDI) strategy.

This is according to Foreign Direct Investment (fDi) Intelligence, a division of the Financial Times.

Cape Town has been ranked 21st for its FDI strategy and is the only African city listed in this category by fDi Intelligence. Other cities listed include Edinburgh, Hong Kong and Chicago.

"This accolade is indeed a massive feather in Cape Town’s cap as it recognises all the ongoing efforts being made by the City and its private sector partners to ensure that Cape Town is on the international map for business and investment," Cape Town's Executive Deputy Mayor, Alderman Ian Neilson, said in a statement.

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"Attracting investment has been part of our strategy since 2006 where we set out to engage with the international community to promote Cape Town as an ideal place to invest in so that we can create much-needed jobs for our people."

Neilson said the City contributes to economic growth by providing stable governance, clear policy direction, delivery of infrastructure, support services, investment promotion, facilitation, economic research and striving to reduce the administrative burden of doing business.

"Encouraging investment and development is one of the key features of our City development strategy,’ he added.
 
The City of Cape Town recently launched Invest Cape Town, for example, an initiative aimed at sharing the economic successes and attractiveness of Cape Town as a globally competitive business destination with the world.

"This strategy is beginning to pay off, with a number of companies setting up their headquarters in Cape Town. Cape Town is home to most South African retail giant headquarters and investment houses. We are the green hub of Africa, accounting for most of the local manufacturing for the national renewable energy programme," said Neilson.