[Ip-health] Namibia Economist: US, SACU Trade Talks Proves Far-Fetched

[Mike Palmedo]

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604210389.html

US, SACU Trade Talks Proves Far-Fetched

Namibia Economist (Windhoek)
April 21, 2006
Windhoek

The United States hoped to seal a range of deals with southern African
countries to boost investment in the region this week but would not
budge on key issues that had previously stalled talks.

Reports from South Africa quoted the Deputy US Trade Representative
Karan Bhatia saying a broader trade pact with the five-member Southern
African Customs Union (SACU) was still far off, but he hoped to agree on
a road map with southern Africa on reaching a trade pact this week.
Talks between the US and southern African nations about signing a free
trade agreement (FTA) that would give them more access to the world's
wealthiest economy have stalled since 2003. Bhatia said while the two
sides had failed to break an impasse on a number of issues, his country
wanted to find other ways of kick-starting investment in southern Africa.

"I think coming in, it's fair to say there was concern our trade and
investment dialogue with SACU countries had stalled," he reportedly told
reporters after talks with SACU representatives. "...we've agreed on a
plan for how to move forward that's going to lead hopefully to near-term
positive results for our bilateral relationship and going to help set in
place the building blocks to reach a free trade agreement ... in the
longer term."

He said this would include agreements that would "smooth the flow of
goods" between the region and the US. SACU consists of South Africa,
Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho. The five countries already
have duty-free access to the U.S. market for most of their exports under
the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

Bhatia however said the US would not compromise on issues like
intellectual property, government procurement and investment, which are
important for American companies doing business on the continent, but
which Africans say are too difficult to enforce.

"We are willing to work with SACU to arrive at a mutually acceptable
solution but we are not willing to compromise on the ambition of our
FTA, generally on the fact that it needs to be comprehensive,"Bhatia
said. SACU member states have accused the US of being inflexible by
refusing to budge on the so-called "new generation" issues which effect
US exports to the region that tend to focus on services or high
technology goods.

Unrealistic demands by the US government are said to be at the centre of
the stalemate of the talks. Analysts have, however, warned that should
the US fail to backtrack on some of its conditions, the deal will remain
a far fetched dream.

Trade pundits are doubtful that any deal will be reached soon. They
believe that Washington's so called "golden standards of trade
relations" are just too high for sub-saharan Africa.