The EU has tabled revisions that would increase the coverage of the Community offer to 95% of imports from SA after 10 years, with around 4% under exclusion
DEVELOPMENTS IN in the European Union-South Africa agreement have reached a new, dynamic stage, said Michael Laidler, head of European Union Commission in South Africa.
Speaking at a luncheon hosted by the British Chamber of Business in Sandton last week, Laidler said he was confident that the agreement could be concluded within two to three months.
The prize is not only great for South Africa but also for the SADC and even other African ACPs against the background of the new system from 2000.
A long-term, all-embracing partnership with Europe, based on equality and reciprocity, balancing out our mutual interests, is, in my view, in the long term, of strategic, political and economic interest to South Africa, he said.
The advantages of access to current and future EU markets, in conformity with WTO and the globalisation process, particularly in the industrial sector, were obvious, said Laidler.
Both parties had always been very sensitive to the impact this agreement would have for the new democracy in South Africa, opening up its economy to the world, said Laidler.
We must not forget Europe is a highly significant trading partner for South Africa. Twenty seven percent of current exports by value go there and 43% of your imports come from there; but that trade with the EU is dynamic in the sense that it is both changing and growing, he said.
South Africa could not be compared with other developing African countries to which development cooperation instruments such as the Lome system - a contractual agreement developed by the Union and its partners over the past 40 years - could directly apply. EU policies on development cooperation had to be adapted to this specific case of South Africa. And there is absolutely no doubt that a non-reciprocal, free trade agreement for SA (such as the Lome system) would have been categorically rejected by the GATT. But at the same time, the structure and the performance of the South African economy and its role in Africa and particularly in Southern Africa, meant that it had to be considered as a full economic and trading partner, he said.
After 19 rounds of negotiations important progress has been made.
In June, the SA side submitted a revision of its trade offer originally tabled in 1997. This exploratory, revised offer, would eventually liberalise more than 86% of SA imports from the EU after a period of 12 years.
This was described by the EU at commission level, as valuable, significant and a useful basis for the final phase of the negotiations, he said.
On the EU side, the commission tabled revisions, also exploratory, in March this year that would increase the coverage of the Community offer to 95% of imports from SA after 10 years, with around 4% under exclusion, said Laidler.
Both parties agreed that their draft offers would still need to be formally confirmed.
These two offers would then make the agreement compatible with WTO rules with total coverage of more than 90% of trade in both directions, which would qualify for the substantial trade coverage required by Article XXIV of GATT 1994, said Laidler.
BY ANNA COX
