EU agrees to include SA in 'crunch' SADC trade talks
The European Union (EU) Council of Ministers has at last agreed to include South Africa in the crucial Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations, which need to be concluded by the end of the year.
The EU is negotiating EPAs with the six African Caribbean and Pacific regions in a bid to replace the trade chapters of the so-called Cotonou Agreement when the World Trade Organisation (WTO) waiver, covering nonreciprocal preferential aspects of the agreement, expires in 2008.
In March last year, the SADC made a proposal for the integration of South Africa into these crucial talks as a way of 'harmonising' the region's trade framework with the EU.
Since then, some real frustration has been expressed by SADC countries at the lack of response from the EU, which eventually materialised on Thursday. Equally, the EU has expressed its unhappiness with the stance taken by SADC that no negotiations, or even talks about talks, should be entertained in the intervening period, given a position that such discussions would be futile in the absence of an agreed framework.
However, the EU announcement that it had indeed agreed that South Africa should be incorporated into the SADC EPA negotiations should open the way for negotiations and the formulation of a fast-track work programme.
The EU indicated that it had agreed with the SADC proposal on the basis that it would create “a more coherent framework for the economic integration of the region, which the EU strongly supports”.
Speaking ahead of the announcement, South Africa's chief negotiator Xavier Carim said that 2007 was a “crunch year” for the EPA talks and that an integrated framework was viewed as crucial, given that the outcome would have “serious implications for regional integration in Southern Africa as well as for trade between Southern Africa and its most important partner outside the region”.
He said that South Africa, which has a trade and development cooperation agreement (TDCA) with the EU, was keen to relate to the EU in the context of its own regional-integration efforts. “While the TDCA has had positive trade implications, it does continue to divide the region in its relations with the EU,” he explained, adding that the EPA negotiations offer an opportunity to reconcile “this anomaly”.
However, he stressed that, while South Africa would be seeking a more uniform trade arrangement with the EU it would not pursue this objective at the expense of its poorer neighbours.
The EU announcement opens the way for the resumption of talks and also creates a framework for these discussions. However, it is possible that some elements of the proposed framework could still be contested.
In a press statement, the European Commission stated that the scope of the future agreement should aim to provide for “maximum market access into the EU”. But it also stated explicitly that, in order to safeguard the competitiveness of less developed economies within the region, “more favourable treatment should be granted to these economies than to South Africa”.
“Thus, for the time being, a differential trade regime should apply. Such a differentiated approach should also apply to new generation issues with a broader up-front commitment from South Africa, whilst regional integration in these areas will deepen over time,” the EU statement read.
Also clarified was the position of the least developed countries of Mozambique, Angola and Tanzania. The SADC proposal sought to, in the EU's view, “contractualise” the nonreciprocal, duty-free quota-free access into the EU market for these countries. In response, the EU said that this would not be WTO compatible, but invited the SADC to jointly explore all possible options compatible with WTO standards, taking into consideration the legitimate concerns of these and other least developed countries. This is likely to raise some debate when the parties meet again and could even see a country such as Tanzania opt to join the East African negotiating bloc, which is not encumbered by the participation of a heavyweight economy like South Africa's.
Also likely to be contested is the EU's proposal that the so-called Singapore trade issue being in some way included in the talks.
In its statement, the EU said its experience with its internal market integration suggested that trade negotiations should not be limited to market access for goods alone and should also embrace trade in services and regulatory supply-side commitments, such as investment, government procurement, trade facilitation, intellectual property rights and competition.
This is likely to be resisted by SADC countries, where the capacity to have meaningful negotiations on these issues is severely constrained.
Author: Terence Creamer - Published: 2007/02/15
The EU is negotiating EPAs with the six African Caribbean and Pacific regions in a bid to replace the trade chapters of the so-called Cotonou Agreement when the World Trade Organisation (WTO) waiver, covering nonreciprocal preferential aspects of the agreement, expires in 2008.
In March last year, the SADC made a proposal for the integration of South Africa into these crucial talks as a way of 'harmonising' the region's trade framework with the EU.
Since then, some real frustration has been expressed by SADC countries at the lack of response from the EU, which eventually materialised on Thursday. Equally, the EU has expressed its unhappiness with the stance taken by SADC that no negotiations, or even talks about talks, should be entertained in the intervening period, given a position that such discussions would be futile in the absence of an agreed framework.
However, the EU announcement that it had indeed agreed that South Africa should be incorporated into the SADC EPA negotiations should open the way for negotiations and the formulation of a fast-track work programme.
The EU indicated that it had agreed with the SADC proposal on the basis that it would create “a more coherent framework for the economic integration of the region, which the EU strongly supports”.
Speaking ahead of the announcement, South Africa's chief negotiator Xavier Carim said that 2007 was a “crunch year” for the EPA talks and that an integrated framework was viewed as crucial, given that the outcome would have “serious implications for regional integration in Southern Africa as well as for trade between Southern Africa and its most important partner outside the region”.
He said that South Africa, which has a trade and development cooperation agreement (TDCA) with the EU, was keen to relate to the EU in the context of its own regional-integration efforts. “While the TDCA has had positive trade implications, it does continue to divide the region in its relations with the EU,” he explained, adding that the EPA negotiations offer an opportunity to reconcile “this anomaly”.
However, he stressed that, while South Africa would be seeking a more uniform trade arrangement with the EU it would not pursue this objective at the expense of its poorer neighbours.
The EU announcement opens the way for the resumption of talks and also creates a framework for these discussions. However, it is possible that some elements of the proposed framework could still be contested.
In a press statement, the European Commission stated that the scope of the future agreement should aim to provide for “maximum market access into the EU”. But it also stated explicitly that, in order to safeguard the competitiveness of less developed economies within the region, “more favourable treatment should be granted to these economies than to South Africa”.
“Thus, for the time being, a differential trade regime should apply. Such a differentiated approach should also apply to new generation issues with a broader up-front commitment from South Africa, whilst regional integration in these areas will deepen over time,” the EU statement read.
Also clarified was the position of the least developed countries of Mozambique, Angola and Tanzania. The SADC proposal sought to, in the EU's view, “contractualise” the nonreciprocal, duty-free quota-free access into the EU market for these countries. In response, the EU said that this would not be WTO compatible, but invited the SADC to jointly explore all possible options compatible with WTO standards, taking into consideration the legitimate concerns of these and other least developed countries. This is likely to raise some debate when the parties meet again and could even see a country such as Tanzania opt to join the East African negotiating bloc, which is not encumbered by the participation of a heavyweight economy like South Africa's.
Also likely to be contested is the EU's proposal that the so-called Singapore trade issue being in some way included in the talks.
In its statement, the EU said its experience with its internal market integration suggested that trade negotiations should not be limited to market access for goods alone and should also embrace trade in services and regulatory supply-side commitments, such as investment, government procurement, trade facilitation, intellectual property rights and competition.
This is likely to be resisted by SADC countries, where the capacity to have meaningful negotiations on these issues is severely constrained.
Author: Terence Creamer - Published: 2007/02/15
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