PRETORIA, July 27 (ANA) - Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel has emphasised the importance of exporters in the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu), Mozambique, and the United Kingdom having certainty on the trade relationship between the parties once the UK exits the European Union (EU).
Patel last week hosted a meeting in Pretoria of ministers responsible for trade in the Sacu and Mozambique, the trade and industry department (dti) said in a statement on Saturday.
The meeting discussed the progress made in discussions to put in place a rollover economic partnership agreement (EPA) between Sacu, Mozambique and the UK before the UK’s scheduled October 31 exit from the EU. This was being done to ensure uninterrupted trade between the southern African countries and the UK in the event of a "no-deal" Brexit.
The ministerial meeting was attended by Botswana’s Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry BJ Kenewendo as coordinator for Sacu and Mozambique for the discussions with the UK on the rollover agreement, Lesotho’s Minister of Trade and Industry, SH Lehana, and eSwatini’s Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade, Manqoba Khumalo, the dti said.
The ministers considered a report on the outcome of the meeting of senior officials of the Sacu, Mozambique, and the UK that took place from July 17 to 19 in Johannesburg.
"The ministers welcomed the efforts made to finalise the future UK, Sacu and Mozambique EPA to enable parties to maintain the current market access and replicate the effects of the existing EPA between the SADC EPA group and the EU, to ensure continuity of trade between the UK, Sacu and Mozambique once the UK exits the EU. The ministers noted that Sacu and Mozambique had made a number of proposals to deal with the outstanding issues and that these provided a basis to move forward to conclude the rollover EPA with the UK.
The ministers had indicated that the discussions between the Sacu, Mozambique and the UK should continue to conclude the outstanding issues as a matter of priority and that in this regard the interest and concerns of all the parties should be addressed and that the development commitments be retained, the dti said.
- African News Agency (ANA)
