Free State: In his 2023 Free State of the Province Address, Premier Mxolosi Dukwana made a commitment that the province will host the second instalment of the Free State Investment Conference as part of the government’s efforts to grow the economy by harnessing investments.
This year’s conference will be held on 27 February 2024 at the Centenary Complex at the University of the Free State.
This instalment of the Free State Investment Conference will be held under the theme: ‘Harnessing Partnerships and Stimulating Growth and Development Through Investments’.
This conference is hosted against the background, where the latest statistics indicate that the Free State official unemployment rate increased to 38.5% in the third quarter of 2023 from 33.8% in the third quarter of 2022. In the third quarter of 2023 there were 727,000 employed people; 3000 jobs were lost in the same quarter.
When quarter three of 2022 and quarter three of 2023 are compared, the province lost 710,000 jobs annually. The high unemployment rate is largely due to the contraction of key economic sectors such as mining, manufacturing, and construction.
The Free State Provincial Government is thus excited to host this significant event, which will build up on the resolutions of the inaugural Investment Conference, which took place in October 2019.
The conference will offer an interactive programme that will see government, business, academics, entrepreneurs, local and international investors, experts, and other role players discuss the Free State investment opportunities, explore the emerging economic trends and find solutions to investment challenges.
The investment conference will seek to promote the province as an investment destination of choice and highlight strategic investment opportunities across various sectors. The focus areas are energy, mining and gas extraction, infrastructure, transport and logistics, as well as tourism.
Residents are happy and giving their opinions as one of the residents said, “Just make sure every cent allocated to our province is spent well, not this thing of other departments not spending their budgets like human settlements that another way of creating jobs starts with first things first Mr premier.”