EMELIA SITHOLE, Johannesburg | Wednesday 2.35pm
A DEADLOCK over rules of origin have scuppered plans by southern African countries to start creating a regional free trade area by January, the Trade and Industry Ministry’s Southern Africa Development Community director, Sifiso Ngwenya, said on Wednesday.
Ngwenya said senior SADC trade officials will meet later in January to try and resolve the deadlock.
He said he hoped the issue will be resolved by March with implementation of the agreement now seen as late as August.
”The implementation of the free trade area has been postponed to some time between June and August … The main issue is the rules of origin, particularly for clothing and textiles,” Ngwenya said.
Ngwenya said some SADC countries were opposed to stringent rules of origin for clothing and textiles, which the region’s economic powerhouse South Africa has pushed to curb dumping of cheaper imports, particularly from Asia.
He said South Africa had proposed a compromise three-year grace period during which poorer SADC members such as Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania would export for three years, under preferential terms, clothing made from fabrics imported from outside the region.
The three years would allow them to find textile sources in the region or establish their own production plants but the countries feel three years is too short. — Reuters