Welcome message by Ambassador Tebogo SEOKOLO

Since achieving liberation in 1994, South Africa has made tremendous strides in bringing about political stability and building a better life for all its citizens.

We have a vibrant, growing and competitive economy supported by world class infrastructure, strong macro economic fundamentals and healthy public finances.

Currently, our economy is experiencing its longest upswing in recent history. Since 2004 our economic growth rate has been five fold the pre-1994 growth rate.

South Africa is also a fast growing and popular tourist destination, offering the visitor an unforgettable and hospitable cultural and culinary experience. South Africa is home to Africa’s busiest airport, the O.R. Tambo International Airport, which handles more than 10 million passengers a year.

We have a globally competitive financial services industry. The JSE Securities Exchange, our country’s equity and derivatives exchange, holds a treasured position as one of the top 20 exchanges in the world in terms of market capitalization.

South Africa also boasts modern transportation and logistics systems as well as advanced information and communication technologies infrastructure.

Our role as the Embassy is to promote and facilitate government to government relations with Turkey, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. Similarly, we seek to promote trade and investment relations and to provide consular and immigration assistance.

This website gives you access to a number of links and search engines covering a wide range of topics, including government, economy, media, tourism as well as immigration and consular matters.

Those of you who intend to travel to South Africa will find both general tourism information as well as requirements for visa application. We trust that you will enjoy the experiences that the tourism links will offer you and we hope that you will be inspired to visit our beautiful country.

For those of you who want to conduct business with South Africa, or would like to receive information regarding investment opportunities in South Africa, there are several links that will assist you.  Through these links you will be exposed to Africa’s largest and most diverse economy offering ever increasing business and investment opportunities. South Africa is alive with possibilities!

We are preparing to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This is the biggest sporting event ever held on the African continent. The theme of this phenomenal event is Afrika ke nako: Africa’s time has come.

South Africa has committed itself to host one of the best ever FIFA World Cup tournaments. For us, the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup is an opportunity to build a lasting legacy for our country. This legacy includes using the World Cup to further position our country as a globally competitive destination for investment and the hosting of major international events.

We invite you to visit our 2010 website to witness the progress being made towards hosting this tournament and building a lasting legacy for our country.

It would also be our honour to welcome supporters and visitors who will follow their teams to our shores and we promise to give you a truly African experience.

Tebogo Seokolo
AMBASSADOR

E-mail: seokolot@foreign.gov.za