The United States, pushing to expand economic ties with sub-Saharan Africa, has held good talks on a proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with southern African countries and hopes to launch formal negotiations early next year, US Commerce Secretary Don Evans said Friday.
”We have had very productive discussions,” Evans said after meeting with ministers from South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland. ”It is an ongoing process.”
Speaking for the African countries, which together form the Southern African Customs Union, Lesotho Finance Minister Tim Thahane said the region was committed to pursuing a free trade agreement with the United States.
”We are all convinced that that is the way to go,” Thahane said.
Both sides said they expected formal negotiations on the FTA to begin in the first part of 2003, part of a broader US push to increase its leverage in the World Trade Organisation by inking new free trade pacts with Morocco and five central American countries.
Bush administration officials have urged US companies to step up trade and investment in sub-Saharan Africa, saying closer economic ties with the region would help the United States achieve its goals in current world trade talks and boost national security.
Evans said the proposed FTA, along with the African Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000 which eliminated US duties on thousands of African goods, demonstrated the Bush Administration’s commitment to using trade and investment to help develop African economies.
”We see great opportunities here,” Evans said, adding that Bush hoped to put his personal imprimatur on the program when he visits the region sometime in January.
African countries hope the proposed visit will set the stage for a second round of US legislation aimed at attracting even more US investment to the region. – Reuters