Johannesburg - South Africa is heading to the US to argue a strong case on why it should be considered for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) for another 10 years.
This was the message relayed by Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies to Parliament yesterday on the country’s position at the out-of-cycle review hearings in the US on Friday.
The hearings will involve South Africa and other African countries benefiting from Agoa, on the need for inclusion.
It has been suggested in some quarters that South Africa did not need to be part of Agoa because it was a strong economy compared with other African countries.
But Davies said the out-of-cycle review hearing was an important platform for South Africa to state its position.
South Africa’s ambassador to the US, Mninwa Mahlangu, and a senior official in the Department of International Relations are to present South Africa’s case at the hearing.
Business Unity South Africa and other stakeholders are also to make submissions at the Washington hearings.
Davies said they would deliver five key messages to US authorities on the need for South Africa’s continued participation in Agoa.
Once the US approved South Africa’s case President Barack Obama would ratify the decision and send notices to each of the countries accepted into Agoa for the next 10 years.
Davies said the key message they would make at the hearing was that South Africa was eligible for Agoa.
Confident message
“We will argue that it is a win-win situation,” he told Parliament. “We will go to the review with a confident message and we hope we will come out of this with a successful outcome for all stakeholders,” he told Parliament.
Evidence has shown that both South Africa and the US have benefited from Agoa over the last few years. Davies said the Brookings Institute found that Agoa had created 100 000 jobs in the US on the one hand and 62 000 jobs in South Africa on the other hand.
He said it would be unthinkable to remove South Africa from Agoa. “The removal of South Africa will reduce the benefits of sub-Saharan Africa, and it will in fact create a hole in southern Africa,” he told the National Assembly.
He said South Africa met all the eligibility criteria to be in Agoa for the next 10 years.
The country’s special envoy to Agoa, Faizel Ismail, also said they had implemented all the decisions taken in Paris two months ago, including on the key poultry saga. Faizel said they were still sticking to the quota of 65 000 tons.
He said they had discussed the issue of the Private Security Industry Bill, which limits foreign ownership of private security companies to 49 percent, with the US.
“These were ongoing discussions,” said Ismail.
Davies also confirmed that he had held discussions with his counterpart in the police, Nathi Nhleko, on this legislation. The DA raised the matter with Davies, arguing that the bill has been sitting with the president for 18 months without being signed into law.
He said the US had expressed concern at this piece of legislation.
But Davies said he would not comment on the signing of the legislation, but had held discussions with the Minister of Police, Nathi Nhleko.
He said he was looking forward to South Africa’s presentation at the hearing.
BUSINESS REPORT