KwaZulu-Natal premier Sibusiso Ndebele has indicated that Singaporean president Sellapan Ramanathan during a visit to the province earlier this year had pledged to invest hundreds of thousands of rands in industrial manufacturing, information technology, tourism, trade and economic development. Ndebele said that that the relationship between South Africa and Singapore provided an unprecedented scope for economic opportunites.

The focus of the visit was to facilitate and promote trade and economic relations. New investment clusters and zones would be identified to facilitate investment in infrastructure and enterprises including the tourism sector development such as hotel and resort development.

In addition the visit was aimed at achieving the objectives of the New Africa-Asia Strategic Partnership adopted in April 2005.