WEDNESDAY, 10.30PM:
ON-GOING trade talks between South Africa and the European Union, now into the 20th round, look to be hitting similar stumbling blocks that held back the previous round.
Head of the South African delegation Elias Links said on Wednesday: “We will not be able to cover everyone’s ambition, and will have to have the right to withhold the liberalising of trade in certain areas.”
Links said EU negotiators made what he labelled “ambitious requests” in the previous round of talks with regard to areas such as cars, textiles, clothing and ceramics. In this week’s talks, South Africa clearly outlined the limits it faced in opening its markets for these products. “We have restated our sensitivities…. it would be very difficult to sign off on these areas in one session,” Links said.
Chief EU negotiator Philip Lowe said the two parties have not yet agreed on the final list of points which would form part of the compromise in September.
Both parties, he continued, are however, committed to concluding a trade treaty by September which would promote the commercial interests of both countries while supporting South Africa’s development efforts.