03 Aug 2014

Negotiations for the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the European Union (EU) have been concluded.


Briefing Parliament on Thursday July 31, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Dorcus Makgato-Malesu said the timing of the conclusion, which was initialised on July 15, was significant as it pre-empts the October 1 deadline after which the republics of Botswana and Namibia as well as the Kingdom of Swaziland would have lost preferential access to the EU market for their exports.


Ms Makgato-Malesu said since 2001 after initialing the interim EPA and subsequently signing it two years later, the SADC-EPA group has been engaged in an intensive process of negotiating towards a final and inclusive EPA that would create a stable and reciprocal, but asymmetrical trading relationship between Botswana and the EU.


Detailing the gains that Botswana would enjoy from the EPA, Ms Makgato-Malesu said the county’s exports would be able to access the EU market duty free quota free, which means that she would be able to export as much of its produce to the EU market as she can depending on the market forces.


She further said that the EPA has managed to preserve the Common External Tariff (CET), which binds the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) together as all member states have initialised the agreement and would, in all likelihood, proceed to sign and ratify it.


“The EPA has very flexible Rules of Origin (ROO) which will allow for the creation of value-chains in Africa’s efforts to industrialise across the continent. Botswana has also managed to negotiate for retention of exercise of her policy space in being able to continue imposing export taxes for products that we would want to keep for purposes of beneficiation. This was one of the long-standing sticky unresolved issues preventing the conclusion of EPA,” she said.


Ms Makgato-Malesu said in addition, Botswana has also nagged to get agreement from the EU that the latter would eliminate export subsidies on agricultural goods destined for the SACU market.


She said the conclusion of negotiations on the EPA also provides legal certainty for the business sector which was good for development and job creation as investors would be willing to come and invest because of a guaranteed market in the EU.


Ms Makgato-Malesu also said the EPA would help promote regional integration, and to that end, the EU has extended a P350 million trade related facility by way of grant to support the implementation of the SADC trade protocol and the SADC EPA.


As a way forward, Ms Makgato-Malesu said the agreement would be subjected to legal polishing by both parties after which each would subject the agreement to national consultations before seeking the necessary approvals to sign and subsequently ratify it.


“It is anticipated that all these process will take approximately six months for Botswana and between eight to 12 months for others. On the other hand, negotiations on trade in services will resume forthwith with a view to completion in the year 2015,” she said.


The SADC-EPA consists of seven member states namely Botswana, Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.
 ENDS