The Democratic Alliance (DA), the official opposition party, believes the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade would be hugely beneficial to all countries within the proposed African Grand Free Trade Area.

“We therefore call on the Department of Trade and Industry negotiators to convene a multilateral effort to tackle non-tariff reforms in the 26 countries concerned in order to support the negotiations of the African Grand Free Trade Area,” said DA shadow trade and industry minister Tim Harris on Monday.

Harris said his party believed such a free trade area had the potential to be a second major trade policy feather in President Jacob Zuma's cap, following SA's admission to the Brics informal grouping of the emerging market economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and, most recently, SA.

“Our presence at the Brics meetings indicates to investors that we are becoming a major player among emerging markets. But that status is linked to our potential to act as the gateway to Africa's 800 million consumers. In this light, the successful reduction of intra-African trade barriers is essential to strengthen SA's position as a springboard into African markets,” Harris said.

He went on to say that the trade department's negotiation team was regarded highly internationally, and the DA was confident that they would be able to tackle the tariff barriers between the 26 countries involved in the proposed Grand Free Trade Area.
“It is critical, however, that the Department of Trade and Industry also makes progress on addressing the additional barriers that often serve as a greater trade impediment than tariffs,” he said.

Harris said that some of these impediments were real, and that perceived corruption, non-existent transport infrastructure and security risks on transport routes would continue to block trade even once tariff barriers had been lowered.
“SA has to push for commitments from other African governments to tackle these challenges decisively as part of the negotiations, and be prepared to help these countries to do so,” Harris said. - I-Net Bridge