South Africa needs to see progress in the development of skills, the United Kingdom Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Consumer Affairs, Gareth Thomas said on Monday.
”Along with India and China, South Africa is constrained by the lack of skills,” Thomas told a South African Institute of International Affairs briefing in Johannesburg.
As far as Africa is concerned, Thomas said the only long-term path out of poverty is trade.
”Terrible poverty exists along with great wealth, even in South Africa,” he said.
To remedy the situation, developing countries have to note that an increase in global trade will mean unprecedented opportunities for economic growth.
”In sub-Saharan Africa — where 700-million people live — the share of its world trade is half of that of Belgium — where 10-million people live.”
Thomas said the Doha talks are at a ”pivotal stage” and that South Africa has a role to play in this arena at the talks on July 21 in Geneva.
”If we don’t get an agreement now then we’ll have to wait another three years — if we get an agreement at all,” Thomas said.
Time is running out for the talks as a new United States administration will be in office in January and elections in India are due to take place in coming months, Thomas said.
This means that a new set of negotiators will sit down at the table in the future and may or may not pick up on the present agenda.
”At the Doha talks, developing nations need to be reducing support for agriculture … the US needs to go in and reduce its support to farmers,” he said.
”[World Trade Organisation head] Pascal Lamy took a risk in calling the July 21 talks because there are all sorts of sensitivities in South Africa, India, Brazil and other economies.”
The Doha round of talks began in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001 and is still continuing. The aim of the talks is to lower trade barriers around the world, allowing free trade between countries of different degrees of prosperity.
Talks recently stalled over issues between the developed nations, led by the European Union, the United States and Japan, and developing countries including South Africa, India, Brazil and China.
Asked if the current situation in Zimbabwe will influence the Doha talks in any way, Thomas said that Zimbabwe is ”a question of its own — it is not in itself significant to Doha”.
He added that the Zimbabwean situation will be discussed by Britain and South Africa in talks on Tuesday.
”I’m not going to prejudge what these talks will conclude,” Thomas said. — Sapa