Trade and industry Minister Alec Erwin says Tuesday’s visit by US President George Bush will further cement the ‘very important economic relationship’ enjoyed by both the US and South Africa, the government news agency BuaNews reports.
President Bush is expected to arrive in the country on Tuesday evening accompanied, among others, by Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
He is to meet President Thabo Mbeki at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Wednesday, prior to President Mbeki’s trip to the African Union (AU) Summit in Maputo, Mozambique.
Addressing the media in Pretoria on Monday morning, Erwin, flanked by foreign affairs acting Director General Abdul Minty, said the two countries had a rich and longstanding trade history.
”The relationship with the US is very important for us because we are the main destination for US investment in Africa and are far and away the largest trading partner they have in Africa,” he explained.
He said, at present, the US was South Africa’s largest export destination and its second largest import destination leading to a growth in trade relations.
”Looking at the total trade in 1994, our exports were R6,7-billion and now stand at R29,7-billion and, more interesting, from 2000 we began to run a trade surplus with the US,” he said.
The surpluses were registered until last year.
Erwin said the growth could be partly attributed to the rand’s deterioration relative to the US dollar and the enactment of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) in 2000.
”Agoa has helped to boost exports especially in sectors that are generally highly protected in the US and where, consequently, duty-free treatment produced great competitive benefits.’
In terms of investment, two years ago, South Africa was by far the largest recipient of US direct investment in Africa valued at $3-billion or 9% of US assets in the continent.
Main areas of investment included chemicals and transportation.
Erwin added that the visit would also boost agreements entered in the mode of regional formations such as the South African Customs Union (Sacu). Sacu includes South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland. Combined, they account for the largest US export market in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Sacu and US recently concluded their first round of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, which took place in Pretoria.
”The first round delivered important achievements aimed at defining the landscape for the negotiations,’ Minister Erwin said, adding that the adoption of the terms of reference document for negotiations was one such achievement.
Erwin added that economic issues are likely to feature strongly in talks between President Thabo Mbeki and Bush in Pretoria on Wednesday.
Deadlocks on trade liberalisation ahead of the September meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) were also likely to come up, Erwin told reporters in Pretoria.
The WTO launched trade liberalisation talks with a three-year deadline at its conference in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001.
WTO members — negotiating in Geneva, Switzerland — have missed several intermediate deadlines on key issues, such as agriculture and cheaper medicines for poor countries.
Erwin said South Africa believed the US could help resolve some of the delays.
”Quite important assistance is with regard to pharmaceuticals. I am sure we will want to raise that from our side. That, I am sure, will also be done at a presidential level.”
In Doha, WTO ministers agreed poor countries grappling with diseases such as HIV/Aids could begin the domestic production of medicines patented by Western companies.
This left the problem of poorer states without the capacity to produce drugs. The US opposes the idea of allowing poor nations to import cheap medicines.
On agricultural subsidies, Erwin reiterated South Africa’s insistence that the issue be resolved through the Doha process.
”We have to have good progress in terms of the Doha development agenda. It’s very important for the world economy.”
Asked about possible concrete results from the US visit, Erwin said it should be seen as continuation of discussions on economic issues between the two presidents.
Bush was due to leave on Monday for a whirlwind five-nation tour of Africa, seeking to prove that America cares about the continent’s misery, but also to bolster his war on terrorism.
Bush was set to leave Washington late on Monday and arrive in the west African state of Senegal early on Tuesday, before moving on to South Africa, Botswana, Uganda, and Nigeria — an itinerary the White House has said will focus on African success stories.
He will avoid the summit of the African Union, which draws the continent’s leaders to Maputo, Mozambique, between July 10 – 12, and steer clear of Kenya, presumably because of security concerns.
Unlike many world leaders and celebrities who visit South Africa, he will not pay a courtesy call on revered statesman Nelson Mandela, an outspoken critic of the US-led war on Iraq.
Bush’s agenda includes Aids, war-ravaged Liberia and what Washington views as potential breeding grounds for terrorism in parts of Africa.
Washington is weighing whether to send US peacekeeping troops to help end the latest civil war in Liberia, riven by almost incessant conflict since 1990. A preliminary team of US military experts arrived in the Liberian capital Monrovia on Monday to prepare for a possible US deployment there. Bush has pressed Liberian President Charles Taylor to stand down, and Taylor accepted an offer of asylum in Nigeria on Sunday, but gave no indication when he would leave.
Some observers have expressed surprise that Bush, with a foreign agenda packed by subduing opposition in Iraq, the search for Middle East peace and North Korea’s nuclear designs, is bothering with Africa at all.
”Misinformation,” Bush declared when asked by CNN television why the US administration had only just become interested in Africa.
”From the very beginning of my administration I have been very much involved with African affairs,” insisted the president, who laid out how he has sought to change ”fundamental” policies in Africa through the allocation of US aid.
”I thought it was important to go before my first term was over to show the importance of Africa to my administration’s foreign policy.”
The US president said his proposed Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) will have an ”incredibly positive” impact on the lives of Africans. He also highlighted his $15-billion programme to combat Aids, which is ravaging the continent.
Aid to poor countries in Africa and other regions is to be dramatically increased under Bush’s MCA plan. But Bush said ”governments actually have to make decisions which will be positive on behalf of their people, such as educating their people, providing health care for their people, not to steal the money, not to focus on the elite but focus on the people themselves, create the conditions for market growth”.
The US leader also wants help from Africa in the war against radical groups that he fears will attack US interests. Bush last week promised a $100-million anti-terror plan to Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania, designed to improve port security and border patrols. And the New York Times reported on Saturday that the Pentagon hopes to persuade African allies to grant more access to US anti-terror troops.
Some groups have praised Bush’s visit and his policies. Data, an Africa pressure group co-founded by pop star Bono, says the Aids plan and the MCA could represent a revolution in aid to Africa.
Five hundred people gathered in Johannesburg on Saturday to protest against Bush’s upcoming visit. The Iraq war and other issues have raised public anger there. And some critics counter the trip is merely an outing for the White House spin machine.
”President Bush is misleading a nation and a continent,” said Salih Booker, executive director of the Africa Action pressure group. ”He is misleading the American people by claiming his administration is taking real steps to address Africa’s most urgent challenges.”
An editorial on Monday in the New York Times said Bush’s trip was a ”significant step in America’s deepening relations with the continent”.
”For too long, Washington and other Western capitals treated Africa as if it were condemned to war, poverty and preventable epidemics. Mr Bush understands that Africans are entitled to a better future, and that America can help them achieve it. ”
”Turning that vision into reality will take more than whirlwind tours and inspiring speeches”, the Times warned, adding that Bush must press Congress for sustained multi-year funding and ”speak plainly with African leaders about steps they themselves need to take”. – Sapa-AFP, I-Net Bridge, Sapa