/ 20 February 1998

Safto loses IDC support

THURSDAY, 6.00PM:

THE Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has terminated financial assistance to the South African Foreign Trade Organisation (Safto).

The IDC said on Thursday that it had sponsored Safto’s maintenance of essential export expertise to the tune of R20-million, hoping that Safto would become a national promotion agency.

But IDC chief executive officer Khaya Ngqula said his organisation has been disappointed by the public and private sectors’ levels of support for Safto, and is not prepared to shoulder the financial responsibility alone.

But the IDC will assist “in the interim” some of Safto’s programmes, including the three-year diploma in export management.

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