October 5, 2007
By Emily Visser
THE lord mayor of London flew into Joburg for a quick visit, bringing with him a top business delegation.
Executive Mayor Amos Masondo met Lord Mayor John Stuttard on Wednesday, 3 October at the Mayoral Chambers in Braamfontein. In their hour-long meeting, the two discussed more serious matters, as well as exchanged gifts.
The delegation was in South Africa to strengthen existing business ties and to look into other business objectives. Stuttard encouraged Johannesburg to look into the benefits of carbon credits as outlined in the Kyoto Protocol, referring to clean development mechanisms financing emission-reduction projects. This could mean a 70 percent subsidy for new landfill sites in Johannesburg.
Johannesburg and London would strengthen their existing partnership, particularly focusing on finance and environmental issues, the City of Johannesburg's external relations department said.
Both cities were grappling with similar urbanisation issues such as migration, housing and service delivery, infrastructure development, transport and economic growth, and were hoping that this interaction could lead to the continuation of the long-standing partnership between South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Positive
Stuttard was quick to note that the JSE, Johannesburg's stock exchange, reacted positively to the visit and showed some bullish activity – prompting Masondo to quip that these visits should occur on a more regular basis.
The parties also spoke about preparations for the 2010 Fifa World Cup™ and increasing public-private partnerships (PPPs). London made extensive use of PPPs in upgrading and developing its infrastructure projects, such as schools, prisons and hospitals.
Parks Tau, the member of the mayoral committee for finance and economic development, said that innovative finance solutions and PPPs had to ensure value-add for the Joburg's ratepayers, "reducing the burden of risk".
The Lord Mayor of London, John Stuttard, meets the City's officials
(Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)
Also at the meeting was the UK's high commissioner to South Africa, Paul Boateng, and members of UK Trade and Investment, a government organisation that helps British companies succeed in international markets.
Stuttard headed the delegation as the ambassador of the London business community. His position is apolitical and includes various ceremonial roles. As head of the City of London Corporation, the Lord Mayor presides over its governing bodies - the Court of Aldermen and the Court of Common Council. He is also the chief magistrate of the City of London, the admiral of the Port of London, the chancellor of City University and president or patron of many other civic and charitable organisations.
Carbon credits
The Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, set quotas on the amount of greenhouse gases countries can produce. Countries, in turn, set quotas on the emissions businesses can produce.
Businesses that are over their quotas must buy carbon credits for their excess emissions, while businesses that are below their quotas can sell their remaining credits.
By allowing credits to be bought and sold, a business for which reducing its emissions would be expensive or prohibitive can pay another business to make the reduction for it. This minimises the quota's impact on the business, while still reaching the quota.
Carbon credits can also be traded between countries; a country can offset its carbon emissions by helping another country reduce its responsibilty for global warming.
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