/ 20 October 1999

CALLS FOR BURMA TO BE BARRED FROM SAITEX

THE South African International Trade Exhibition opened in Johannesburg on Wednesday with a hope that the next few years will see the increasing integration of production across the region. Speaking at the opening, director-general of trade and industry Zav Rustomjee said the recently concluded free trade agreement with the European Union and the Southern African Development Community Free Trade Agreement present a host of new opportunities for the region. The opening of the trade fair was marked, however, by calls by the Congress of South African Trade Unions to expel Myanmar representatives from the exhibition. Myanmar is the name given to Burma by the military junta which overthrew the south Asian country’s democratically elected government in 1990.