Last ditch SADC attempt to find common ground on trade deal

A watershed meeting between Namibian Trade and Industry Minister Hage Geingob and his peers from six other countries from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will take place in Gaborone next Wednesday to try and reach consensus on signing the controversial interim economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU).

South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland will also attend the one-day meeting, Charles Mubita, Manager: Media, Publications and Public Affairs of the SADC Secretariat, confirmed from the Botswana capital yesterday.The EU will not be present at the meeting.Mubita described the event as ‘an internal meeting’ which will try to establish a ‘common understanding’ on the EPAs.A signing ceremony was scheduled in Brussels last week, but had to be cancelled.Up to now, Namibia has only provisionally initialled the interim EPA to ensure that its beef, fish and table grapes enjoy quota- and tariff free access to EU markets. For the country to fully exploit improved market access to the EU’s 500 million people, it must take the first step and sign the interim EPA. The parties can then further negotiate the full EPA.Major concerns about the impact of the EPAs on SADC remain, especially as far as Namibia, South Africa and Angola (ANSA) are concerned.Although the EU has made allowances on most of the key issues, two huge stumbling blocks remain: that of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) and the Definition of Parties (DoP). Observers have warned that the MFN clause in the existing interim EPA text might hamper south-south trade, while the DoP clause could compromise SADC’s regional integration plans.This week, Finance Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila raised reservations about the EPA.Opening a financial strategy workshop at the Bank of Namibia (BoN) on Wednesday, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said trade in services features prominently on the agenda of on-going negotiations.’Any liberalisation in trade in services has to be done in a manner that is supportive of the country’s national development objectives, including addressing pertinent issues of local incorporation, skills development and uniform application of prudential measures so that regulators could exercise unfettered due diligence,’ she said.Meanwhile, the EU is confident that the interim EPAs will be signed within a few weeks after nearly two years of drawn-out and, at times, dramatic negotiations.Earlier this week, Business Day reported that EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton, who attended the swearing-in of South African President Jacob Zuma last weekend, was optimistic the deal would be concluded soon.Ashton said the EU was willing to give South Africa’s new Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies time to get to grips with the negotiations, but made it clear the signing would go ahead with or without South Africa. South Africa has its own trade deal with the EU under the Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement (TDCA). Should South Africa refuse to sign the interim EPA, it would have far-reaching consequences for, amongst others, the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu), one of the major revenue sources of Namibia.jo-mare@namibian.com.na