In a letter dated November 5, 2015, US President Barack Obama warned South Africa that if the negotiations on the outstanding issues related to the poultry SPS (Sanitation Performance Standards) are not resolved by December 31 then the US would suspend South Africa’s duty-free treatment of South Africa’s agricultural goods into the US.
South Africa’s negotiators have been well aware of this authority to suspend the country’s trade benefits in terms of the Agoa Extension and Enhancement Act where the US believes that a beneficiary of Agoa (African Growth and Opportunity Act) is “not making continual progress toward the elimination of barriers to United States trade and investment”.
However, South Africa wishes to submit that it has been making continual progress during the past few months to implement the agreement reached in Paris on June 6-7 this year.
The main issues to be resolved are the opening of the South African market to US exports of the three meats: poultry, beef and pork.
At the Paris meeting South Africa agreed to open the South African market to the US for 65 000 tons of bone-in chicken pieces through a rebate facility.
In this regard, the International Trade and Administration Commission has already issued a draft regulation on October 30.
The process of creating this quota is envisaged to be concluded well before December 31.
In addition, as I indicated to the parliamentary committee on trade and industry on November 3, South Africa’s vets have been continuously engaged with the US vets during the past few months on the drafting of the necessary trade and animal health protocols for poultry, beef and pork.
Significant progress has been made in this regard and the work is almost complete.
The reason the work has not been completed is due to the fact that both sides have had to engage on the documentation and negotiate the texts.
Both sides have had to consider and evaluate these texts carefully before making submissions and proposals.
These issues are about animal health and are very complex – a balance has to be found between trade opening and animal health.
In the case of the poultry issue the negotiation has been more complex because the US is seeking an agreement on the health standards/regulations that would obtain if/when there is another outbreak of avian influenza in the US.
The US requires South Africa to keep the market open to US poultry from those US states that are not affected during such an outbreak.
Notwithstanding this complexity South Africa’s vets have been fully engaged on the detailed drafting of a trade protocol and animal health protocol for poultry.
A draft trade protocol and animal health protocol is almost complete with some t’s to cross and some i’s to dot.
A meeting of the vets from the US and South Africa is taking place today – November 6 – to attempt to close all the remaining technical issues.
South Africa believes that it is “on track” to meet the December 31 deadline to resume imports of US poultry into South Africa.
On beef, the cabinet approved the lifting of a ban on boned beef from several countries which had bovine spongiform encephalopathy, including the US, on June 24 this year.
South Africa has submitted a draft health certificate to facilitate trade from the US and is open to discussing these issues on an expedited basis.
On pork, the animal health authorities of both governments have been undertaking the necessary technical work to ensure safe trade from at least three diseases, namely trichinella, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome and aujesky.
South African vets have made significant progress and have been able to approve a list of pork cuts.
The country has submitted a draft pork health certificate to the US.
It remains ready to address any other concerns of the US.
At the bilateral meeting today – November 6 – between the US and South African vets the outstanding issues will be discussed with a view to finalising the technical issues.
It remains to be said that these are matters of animal health and have to be dealt with accordingly in a scientific and objective manner by the vets.
South Africa’s message to the US on Agoa remains:
- Agoa has contributed significantly towards building a beneficial partnership between the USA and South Africa.
- South Africa is a vital part of the regional integration and development process under way in Africa and removing South Africa from Agoa would substantially diminish the significance of Agoa for sub-Saharan Africa and the US.
- The breakthrough made at the June 6 to 7 Paris meeting on the poultry issue and the progress made on the SPS issues related to poultry, beef and pork offer significant opportunities for the US and South Africa to increase their trade in agriculture.
- South Africa is a relatively open economy and trade and investment relations between South Africa and the US have continued to grow and deepen during the period under Agoa.
- Bilateral mechanisms, such as Tifa (Trade and Investment Framework Agreement), have provided an excellent forum for the resolution of trade and investment concerns.
- South Africa meets all the eligibility criteria to remain a beneficiary of Agoa for the next 10 years.
Rob Davies is the Minister of Trade and Industry.