RSA/EU agreement hurts Namibia

A SEPARATE trade agreement that has been reached between South Africa and the European Union has had a negative impact on Namibia and also violated an existing agreement among members of a regional customs union to which both countries belong, a Government official said yesterday.

Speaking at the first information seminar for civil society and the private sector with regard to the current negotiations on a new trade agreement between African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the EU by December, Bernadette Artivor of the Namibia Investment Centre said Namibia also strongly opposed “attempts by the EU to require South Africa to allow more market access for EU products,” which could potentially displace Namibia’s exports to South Africa. “South Africa is our largest trading partner,” Artivor said.She was reading the prepared speech of Trade and Industry Minister Immanuel Ngatjizeko, who was unable to attend the seminar organised by the Windhoek office of the European Commission, which is the administrative and executive arm of the European Union.The existing Cotonou Agreement, which ends on December 31 this year, gives the ACP countries – among them Namibia – preferential access for certain goods exported to Europe.Under Cotonou, Namibia benefits from a 13 000 tonne annual beef quota and also exports table grapes, some of the quota of 800 tonnes being subject to a lower tariff.A new trade agreement, which is supposed to be signed and come into effect by January 1 – barely 6 months away – is currently being negotiated, but the talks started rather late.In the meantime, South Africa had signed its own trade or economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the EU.To complicate matters, a regional bloc, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), of which both Namibia and South Africa are members, is also a player in the negotiations with the EU, although South Africa only has observer status on that issue.Some of the 14 SADC members also belong to the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) which has Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland as its members.Artivor referred to Sacu when she said that Namibia was negatively impacted by the separate agreement between the EU and South Africa.”It is important to note that Namibia has never granted the requisite permission to South Africa to implement that (separate EU) agreement,” Artivor added.”In that sense we feel that it violates the Sacu agreement (among its five members) and there is a need to harmonise Sacu’s trade relations with the EU under one trading regime.”The EU Ambassador to Namibia, Dr Elisabeth Pape, said she had the impression the future benefits derived from the new agreements as from 2008 would not be shared with civil society and the private sector in Namibia.”These two sectors have been ignored in the process,” Pape stated.Representatives of the banking and agricultural sectors and some non-governmental organisations attended the seminar.”South Africa is our largest trading partner,” Artivor said.She was reading the prepared speech of Trade and Industry Minister Immanuel Ngatjizeko, who was unable to attend the seminar organised by the Windhoek office of the European Commission, which is the administrative and executive arm of the European Union.The existing Cotonou Agreement, which ends on December 31 this year, gives the ACP countries – among them Namibia – preferential access for certain goods exported to Europe.Under Cotonou, Namibia benefits from a 13 000 tonne annual beef quota and also exports table grapes, some of the quota of 800 tonnes being subject to a lower tariff.A new trade agreement, which is supposed to be signed and come into effect by January 1 – barely 6 months away – is currently being negotiated, but the talks started rather late.In the meantime, South Africa had signed its own trade or economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the EU.To complicate matters, a regional bloc, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), of which both Namibia and South Africa are members, is also a player in the negotiations with the EU, although South Africa only has observer status on that issue.Some of the 14 SADC members also belong to the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) which has Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland as its members.Artivor referred to Sacu when she said that Namibia was negatively impacted by the separate agreement between the EU and South Africa.”It is important to note that Namibia has never granted the requisite permission to South Africa to implement that (separate EU) agreement,” Artivor added.”In that sense we feel that it violates the Sacu agreement (among its five members) and there is a need to harmonise Sacu’s trade relations with the EU under one trading regime.”The EU Ambassador to Namibia, Dr Elisabeth Pape, said she had the impression the future benefits derived from the new agreements as from 2008 would not be shared with civil society and the private sector in Namibia.”These two sectors have been ignored in the process,” Pape stated.Representatives of the banking and agricultural sectors and some non-governmental organisations attended the seminar.