THE OPENING STATEMENT OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN CUSTOMS UNION AT THE OCCASION OF THE REVIEW OF ITS TRADE POLICIES - 23-25 APRIL 2003
	Madam Chairperson, Ambassador Whelan, Honorable Ministers, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates. We, the Members of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) - comprising The Republic of Botswana, The Kingdom of Lesotho, The Republic of Namibia, The Republic of South Africa, and The Kingdom of Swaziland - welcome this opportunity to interact with all Members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at the occasion of the first review of our trade policies as a customs union. We thank you for chairing this meeting; we thank the Discussant, Her Excellency Ambassador Amina Mohamed of Kenya; the WTO Secretariat and all delegations for facilitating this important event. We had the opportunity to read the reports prepared by the Secretariat. Given the nature and the process involved in compiling these reports, there are indeed some areas in respect of these reports over which we may hold different views, and we shall use this review to clarify some of the policy positions and technical issues. We welcome the transparency that the trade policy review process seeks to promote, and we affirm our commitment to opening up our trading regimes to scrutiny within the context of our obligations under the WTO. Our commitments under the WTO Agreements, including the trade policy review process, show our continued support for and belief in multilateralism. In our view, it is through the multilateral process that issues of common concern to all of us could be addressed. Now more than ever before, when there is so much uncertainty around with regard to the future of the multilateral trading system and the WTO itself, there is need to strengthen our cooperation in the WTO and affirm our commitment to multilateralism as a proper vehicle for responding to common challenges. Madam Chairperson, In 1998, the SACU countries were reviewed as individual countries. At that time, we were still in the process of negotiating the new SACU agreement. However, we had committed ourselves to finalizing the negotiations and carrying forward the process that would lead to the achievement (through negotiations) of the goals and objectives we had set for ourselves. Today, we are pleased to report that we have concluded the negotiations and we have a new SACU Agreement, which was signed in October 2002. It is our intention to notify this Agreement once the domestic constitutional ratification processes and procedures in all the Member States have been satisfied. Through the new Agreement, we have laid the basis for strengthening our cooperation in the pursuit of our common goals and objectives. We have laid the basis and created a framework within which we can work towards the economic development of our region, reduction of poverty and inequalities within and amongst our countries as well as addressing the issues relating to HIV/AIDS. All these efforts are aimed at contributing to the economic revival of our region and the African continent as a whole. The conclusion of the SACU Agreement is a manifestation of the desire and commitment on our part to consolidate our regional trade relations with the objective of fostering development of our region and its peoples. We are proud of the steps we have taken thus far and we are pleased to see that our efforts are beginning to bear fruit. Recent indicators show that there has been demonstrable economic growth overall of the customs union, albeit modest. What this factor indicates is that we have, as a customs union, laid a good and solid basis for growth of our regional economy, and that this is as a result of carefully considered plans and policies. To sustain movement of our economies in the direction of more growth, individual SACU Members have adopted macroeconomic policies that are aimed, inter alia, at attracting investment, promoting industrialization of our economies, improving the competitiveness of our industries and creating conditions for growth and development. The positive and encouraging outcomes of all these efforts are evident in the growth of our exports. Over the last five years, manufactured exports, in constant Rands, have increased at 11 per cent per year. Almost all sectors have contributed to this increase with particularly strong growth in vehicles, autocomponents, chemicals and, more recently, clothing. All our economies are now looking at exporting and diversifying our industrial bases. We have seen particularly strong growth in exports to fast-growing countries of the South. The current negotiations with United States and MERCOSUR are aimed at reinforcing this trend, establishing beneficial trade links with our trading partners as well as accessing new markets for our products. We hope that the consolidation of SACU will strengthen and reinforce these efforts. We are fully aware that in the pursuit of our objectives there will be challenges in the way. However, we are committed to ensuring that these objectives are achieved, and in this process, we invite our trading partners to support our efforts, and in particular, the strengthening of SACU and country-level institutions. Like other regional trading arrangements, we consider our customs union as a building block for deeper regional and continental integration, which will serve as the basis for attaining the goals and objectives of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and for greater integration into the global economy. To achieve the goals and objectives of the new SACU Agreement will require our collective effort to move forward as a region. As an initial start, we have agreed to develop and harmonise policies, inter alia, in the areas of industrial development, agriculture, competition policy as well as address unfair trade practices. Madam Chairperson, SACU Member States interact with each other from varying levels of development. However, this factor has not hindered our effective interaction in the pursuit of what we consider to be in our common interest . In this regard, our experience has demonstrated that when political will exists and is mobilized constructively, it is possible for countries at varying levels of development to work together to achieve balanced outcomes. In the context of the Doha negotiations, developed countries need to demonstrate leadership that will propel the negotiating process forward. The Doha development agenda needs to be put on track and in our view, the major powers bear a disproportionate responsibility to do so. Concluding the Doha Round negotiations is crucial to supporting continued growth in the world economy and without this there will be no development for the majority of the world’s people. To ensure that the Doha Development Agenda lives up to its name, it is important to ensure that our economies and the economies of other developing and least developed countries do gain meaningful market access, and that the current market access arrangements are maintained. In our view, it is only through meaningful market access that the multilateral trading system can help the development of our economies. Recent developments in our region demonstrate that when market access is offered, countries are able to respond by taking advantage of these opportunities to expand and diversify their export base. This experience suggests and validates the fact that when meaningful market access is availed, our countries can use the strength of their comparative advantage and fully utilise these opportunities. In our view, therefore, technical assistance and capacity building should not be a substitute for concerted and meaningful market access, but should complement it. We believe that the WTO can play a key role in ensuring that markets are opened and barriers are removed, particularly on products of export interest to our economies. The WTO can also play a key role in ensuring that the multilateral rules support development. This is important if our economies are to integrate into the global economy. To this end, and as developing countries, we have interest in ensuring that issues such as special and differential treatment, public health and access to medicines, and agriculture are addressed as a matter of urgency. Madam Chairperson, The conclusion of the new SACU Agreement was not the end of our serach for a consolidated customs union, but the beginning. We are cognisant of the fact that we still have a lot of work to do to achieve the ultimate objectives of a fully integrated customs union. However, we wish to emphasise that it is our collective desire to achieve, inter alia, harmonisation and consolidation of our policies. It is our wish that the outcomes of the Doha negotiations will strengthen and support our efforts in the region and help us achieve economic growth and development. Finally, it is our hope that this two day segment of the review has helped to butress and reaffirm our commitment to the principle of transparency, upheld by the multilateral trading system as espoused by the WTO. I thank you for your kind attention.
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