Free trade deal talks trundle on

India and China next in line ALAN PEAT PROGRESS IN talks in the recent proliferation of free trade deals has been verging on snail-like, according to the Southern African Trade Law Centre (tralac). “This has been attributed partly to inadequate capacity in the negotiating teams in the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu).” One attempt to overcome this has seen the team now boosted by another 16 members - although the newcomers are expected to be on a two-year learning curve before their negotiation skills are fully honed. “Sacu recently completed several years of negotiations for trade deals with the Latin American trade bloc, Mercosur, and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA),” said tralac. India and China are next in line - and other countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, South Korea and Turkey have expressed an interest in free trade deals with SA.