SA to sign trade pact with EU in about-turn
Business Day | 2010/10/08
SA to sign trade pact with EU in about-turn
LOYISO LANGENI
SA IS likely to conclude an economic partnership agreement (EPA) by the end of this year with the European Union (EU) as a member of the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu), International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said yesterday.
This signals a major shift from SA’s former opposition to the deal.
SA and Namibia belong to the five-member union, and both had reservations about signing an EPA with the EU. Botswana and two smaller members of Sacu, Lesotho and Swaziland, signed interim EPAs with the EU last year.
“We can indeed conclude this EPA by the end of this year as long as they (the EU) do not bring new issues on the table,” Ms Nkoana-Mashabane said, adding that Sacu was now negotiating with “one voice” .
Ms Nkoana-Mashabane would not say whether the interim EPAs of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland were now null and void.
She criticised the EU for negotiating the EPAs on a bilateral level with member countries although Sacu was a bloc.
Peter Draper, head of the development through trade programme at the South African Institute of International Affairs, said the agreement will consolidate SA’s trade relations with the EU.
However, “it will not take us far beyond the existing trade relations with the EU”, Mr Draper said.
SA did not agree with the EU on a range of issues such as intellectual property rights, a most favoured nation clause, regulatory and new generation issues.
SA was also concerned that vulnerable industries such as the manufacturing sector may be hardest hit by the dumping of cheap EU goods in the customs union.
Mr Draper said he understood that the EU “have agreed not to push” through its position on these contentious issues, hence the resumption of trade talks with Sacu members as a bloc.
“It’s more of a political issue than an economic one,” Mr Draper said.
Botswana’s President Ian Khama, who was in SA this week, has defended his country’s decision to enter into an interim EPA. The agreement would bring more trade and investment opportunities for his country, hence the decision to break ranks with other Sacu members.
President Jacob Zuma indicated that SA was willing to resolve the impasse over the EPA amicably with the EU.
The EU is on a global drive to negotiate EPA s with major trading blocs of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries after the expiry of preferential trade deals and to bring them in line with World Trade Organisation rules.
The EU argues EPA s will direct more European foreign direct investment opportunities to ACP countries. They will also bring about improved governance, regional integration and a trade balance with the countries, EU trade officials argue.
