Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies hopes the government will meet the 60-day deadline set by the US to prevent the cutting off of certain agricultural products from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) benefits.
Davies told an emergency press briefing in Parliament on Friday the government was on track to get things right in the trade deal with the US.
This follows a notice issued by US President Barack Obama this week for South Africa to meet certain targets before being fully accepted back into Agoa.
Agoa was recently revived by Congress and endorsed by Obama, after its first term expired in September.
Obama has given South Africa a deadline of two months to correct the situation.
However, Davies said the issues were not about what the Department of Trade and Industry had failed to do, but about the work of the vets.
Protocols
The vets from both sides are finalising texts on the protocols for meat products to enter South Africa.
This followed an agreement in Paris in June to allow 65 000 tons of US chicken into South Africa.
Davies said government did not want South Africa to get products from the US that would give South Africa problems.
“We take the letter from Obama seriously as a warning that if we don’t conclude (outstanding issues), this will happen,” the minister said of the suspension of certain agricultural products.
He said the government was very close to resolving all the outstanding issues and the vets were meticulous in their work to cover all the matters at hand.
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries can also not be blamed because the vets were being thorough in their work.
The vets did not want to leave anything to chance, he said.
However, they are mindful of the deadline set by the Obama administration to complete their work in 60 days.
Davies said that the vets wanted to ensure when South Africa got US poultry there were no problems.
If South Africa did not meet the 60-day deadline certain products, including wine and citrus, would be excluded from the Agoa benefits.
The events happening were part of the out-of-cycle review during this phase of Agoa.
Davies said they were in constant touch with the vets, and remained hopeful that the deadline of 60 days would be met. Davies said he was told by US trade representative Michael Froman the notice was reversible if South Africa met the deadline.
He denied South Africa had deliberately missed the deadlines, saying the government had done its best in the past to meet all the deadlines.