India, South Africa to ink trade pact soon

Tuesday, 07 December 2004, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: India will soon sign a preferential trade agreement with the South African Customs Union to expand trade and investment flows between the two countries, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said Tuesday. At a meeting here between Kamal Nath and his South African counterpart Mandisi Mpahiwan, the two sides also agreed to step up cooperation for the ongoing talks at the World Trade Organisation, especially on agriculture and market access. The Indian side also hoped the process of the dialogue forum among India, Brazil and South Africa would facilitate greater ties among the three countries and strengthen South-South cooperation. This dialogue forum is not a trading bloc, but a grouping that envisages a wider canvass of cooperation in various fields among the three countries with a high level of technological competence and rich human resources. Kamal Nath took up with the South African minister the issue of the time taken to register Indian pharmaceutical products in South Africa and suggested that a fast-track mechanism for Indian drugs already approved in the US and Britain. He also urged South Africa to evolve a mechanism to import drugs from India for treating AIDS as many Indian companies were manufacturing generic versions of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs for the same. The South African minister was accompanied by Iqbal Meer Sharma, chief director of the country's Department of Trade and Industry, and Madoda Ntshinga, first secretary for political affairs in the South African high commission here.
Source: IANS