African grouping to discuss free trade with India
Monday, 13 December 2004, 20:30 IST
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JOHANNESBURG:Trade between India and the five members of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) is expected to get a boost when negotiations start next year for opening up markets between the countries. Willem van der Spuy, director of Asian bilateral trade programmes at South Africa's trade and industry ministry, said SACU had given its mandate for talks with India on allowing free flow of goods and services. "We have received a SACU mandate to start negotiating with India. We will start negotiating in the middle of next year and hope to conclude the negotiations at the end of next year," he told the daily Business Report. The SACU members are South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana and Namibia. The first phase of negotiations will focus on establishing a preferential trade agreement that will enable local exporters to have free access to India's $2.66 trillion (15.6 trillion rand) economy. Van der Spuy said a second phase of free trade talks will explore the possibility of upgrading the preferential trade agreement into a free trade agreement to cover services, investment and procurement. Agriculture is expected to be excluded from the free trade agreement to protect small-scale subsistence farmers in India, while SACU countries are expected to be affected by Indian exports of fashion and electronics. Indian Consul-General Suresh Goel said the free trade agreement would encompass zero tariffs, promoting trade growth between India and South Africa and providing "privileged market access for Indian and South African firms". Several leading Indian companies in pharmaceuticals, chemicals and the automotive industry have already firmly established themselves in South Africa in anticipation of the SACU agreement. Among them are top motor manufacturers Tata and Mahindra and pharmaceutical majors Cipla and Ranbaxy.
Source: IANS
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