• higher levels of domestic and foreign investment;
• increasing market access for South African products; and
• achieving a fair, efficient and competitive market place

These targets will drive the achievement of major advances in the following six (6) areas:

• promotion of the development of small, medium and micro enterprises;
• increasing opportunities for black economic empowerment;
• contributing to the reduction of inequality and poverty;
• strengthening of the international competitiveness of SA business;
• development of the SADC region; and
• adding value to the economy

Substantial progress has already been made in re-organising the Department to meet these challenges. The previous ten (10) Chief Directorates with an amalgam of policy and implementation roles have been transformed into six (6) focussed units.

• The Executive Management Unit (EMU), which will provide policy direction and co-ordination to Department and its associated institution.
• The International Trade & Investment Development Division is responsible for policy formulation and programme management. Its work will be largely at the level of policy and strategy development, programme development, monitoring and evaluation, negotiations and relationship building in the areas of bilateral and multilateral trade relations and investment.
• The Enterprise, Commerce & Industry Development Division is responsible for policy and strategy development, programme development, monitoring and evaluation, consultation and relationship building in the areas of black economic empowerment and enterprise development, SMMEs, co-operatives, business regulation, consumer protection and sector development.
• Trade and Investment South Africa is a service delivery agency, incorporating the current functions and staff of Investment South Africa, a Section 21 company. This will be a combined trade and investment promotion agency. Its premise is the increasing interrelatedness of trade and investment. It will allow for the rationalisation of these activities, which are performed separately at present. In some instances, independent trade and investment promotion offices, outside of the ambit of embassies, are envisaged.
• The Enterprise and Industry Development Agency is a service agency, which will be the key vehicle for supply-side incentive measures to business, with particular emphasis on black economic empowerment and SMMEs.
• A Group Systems and Support Services Division will prove corporate services to all units in the Department and setting standards for administration and governance, which will offer a full range of corporate services, set standards for the group in the corporate governance and administration field and will monitor and evaluate the performance of the functionally independent operating units and the associated institutions.

The establishment of two regulatory and administrative institutions will take place. These institutions will administer functions currently performed by the Department.

• The Commission for International Trade Administration (CITA) will be responsible for the administration of tariffs and trade remedies, a function currently performed by the Board of Tariffs and Trade. These functions would further be linked to structures in the South African Customs Union. It would derive its legal status from a founding act, which will be the subject of a future Cabinet Memorandum.

• The Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO) will be responsible for the registration of companies, closed corporations, patents, designs, copyright and trademarks. This would combine the presently organisationally separate South African Companies’ Registration Office and the South African Patents and Trademarks Office, two directorates within the Department, into a single client –focused service delivery unit, constituted as a trading entity.

The new structures are being populated beginning at the highest levels. Two Deputy Director General posts have been filled and it is anticipated that the DD-G Group Systems and Support Services post will be filled by end September. A new Chair for the Board on Tariffs and Trade has been appointed. The post of Chief Operating Officer, CIPRO has been advertised and should be filled by the end of September.

Several new Chief Director, CEO, COO, and Director posts have been advertised and interviews for 10 of these posts will have been completed by the middle of September. This layer of new leadership will be involved in recruiting the level of Directors. Staff migrating from current posts will fill the majority of new posts. A target of 50% women representation in all new posts from Director level upwards has been set. Filling of all new posts and migration of staff into the new structures should be completed by March 2001.