Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies and the US Trade Representative, Ambassador Michael Froman, have pledged to resolve the meat dispute and have met on the sidelines of the World Trade Organisation’s 10th Ministerial Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.
Among other things, their meeting assessed the progress made since President Barack Obama gave notice last month that the US would withdraw duty-free treatment for agricultural exports from South Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act if the country did not resolve the Americans’ concerns.
In the letter, Obama warned South Africa that if the negotiations on issues relating to the poultry sanitation performance standards were not resolved by December 31, the US would suspend the duty-free treatment of its agricultural goods.
South African and US veterinarians subsequently signed the Protocol for Poultry Meat and Day-Old Chicks on November 13.
The protocol is to secure the continued export of poultry from areas in the US not affected by avian flu in the event of any outbreaks of the disease.
Davies and Froman committed themselves to working together to resolve the meat dispute. They said their officials would continue to engage to finalise the last few issues.
Saturday Star