The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) has invited participation in its National Stakeholder Consultative Workshop on the Integrated National Export Strategy (INES) or Export 2030 themed: ‘Export promoting industrialisation to spur growth amid economic crisis and beyond.’ The workshop will be held in Pretoria on 17 March.
According to the dti the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 specifically highlights that exports (as measured in volume terms) should grow by 6% a year to 2030 with non-traditional exports growing by 10% a year, a target incorporated into the INES to achieve economic growth and export-oriented employment.
Trade and Investment South Africa (TISA) took a lead and collaborated with the private and public sectors to evaluate the effectiveness of its export strategy and recommended a more suitable model that would better accelerate South African export growth with a competitive edge. These contributions to the strategy and programme continue to pave the way to increase exports of value-added and beneficiated goods and services to targeted and prioritised markets.
The INES, which focuses on areas such as competitiveness; prioritisation of markets; market access; financing mechanisms; stakeholder alignment, export promotion mechanisms and monitoring and evaluation requirements, is being reviewed through a national consultative process with all stakeholders within the export value chain.
According to the dti further inputs from the National Stakeholder Consultative Workshop will be incorporated into the draft INES resulting in a final strategy with commitment from all stakeholders on the implementation of the strategy.
Should you wish to attend, simply confirm your attendance by emailing Ms Ayanda Ntola on ANtola@thedti.gov.za by no later than 11 March 2016.
Customs Cornerstone Guidelines
On 03 March 2016 the World Customs Organisation (WCO) released its ‘Technical Guidelines on Advance Rulings for Classification, Origin and Valuation’ publicly. The purpose, it says, is to enhance transparency and to provide additional information to any interested party.
According to the WCO these guidelines were developed in order to support the implementation of Article 3 (Advance rulings) of the Bali ministerial decision on the agreement on trade facilitation and shared only among the WCO members.
Email us for a copy.
WCO Origin Guidelines
The WCO on 03 March made its origin tools, such as guidance materials which were shared only among the WCO members, publicly available except those related to customs controls. The purpose of publishing the origin tools is to further enhance the transparency of the WCO’s work in this area as well as to provide additional information to any interested party.
The following guidance tools have been published namely (i) Guide for Technical Update of Preferential Rules of Origin; (ii) Guidelines on Certification of Origin; and (iii) Technical Guidelines on Advance Rulings for Classification, Origin and Valuation.