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The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the decision to commence talks on an African Grand Free Trade bloc. Such a free trade area has the potential to be a second major trade policy feather in President Zuma’s cap, following South Africa’s admission to the BRICS last year.

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 South Africa’s position as a springboard into African markets.

The Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI’s) trade negotiation team is highly regarded internationally, and the DA is confident that they will be able to tackle the tariff barriers between the 26 countries involved in the Grand Free Trade Area. It is critical, however, that the DTI also makes progress on addressing the additional barriers that often serve as a greater trade impediment than tariffs.

Real and perceived corruption, non-existent transport infrastructure and security risks on transport routes will continue to block trade even once tariff barriers have been lowered. South Africa 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.

The DA believes that the removal of both tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade would be hugely beneficial to all countries within the free trade area. We therefore call on the DTI 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.