South Africa will enter the sixth ministerial conference World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Hong Kong in December with a clear indication of what industry wants from the negotiations.

At the National Consultative Conference last week, business representatives called on government not to make too many concessions, particularly in the area of nonagricultural tariffs. Comments from the floor suggested that offers should be carefully examined to ensure that they are genuine, while government affirmed its position that developing countries should not pay for the removal of agricultural subsidies by developed countries with disproportional concessions in other areas, particularly industrial tariffs.

Industries' position seemed to jell with that of government's, as Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa last week detailed a ten-point proposal that centred on development issues and was broadly 'Africentric' in nature.

The debate on Friday centred on agricultural subsidies and liberalisation, progress on which is seen as central for moving the round forward.

A delegate suggested that the use of the anti dumping mechanism was generally ineffective in the protection of agricultural commodities, especially in the context of depressed international prices, which leads to higher domestic prices. The speaker argued that the oversupply was a direct result of subsidies and that this made it difficult to determine whether dumping was actually happening, as the world price was also influenced by a number of other factors. There was also clear indication of how this could be countered and the net result was often that developing countries, especially agriculture-based economies, suffered the most.

Protection should be extended beyond commodities, argued a speaker, and should include downstream agroprocessing sectors.

In addition, business delegates suggested that government should be more aggressive in enforcing international rules and should make use of the international dispute body when banned practices occurred on South Africa's shores.

Another delegate argued for food-aid money, set aside specifically for starving African countries, being used to procure foodstuff from African sources.

Chief negotiator Xavier Carim said that efforts were under way to build greater unity of purpose among African governments on the issue of agricultural-trade liberalisation.

He added that wording such as there being a need for a “mechanism that allowed developing countries to respond to imported products that are subsidised”, would be looked at.

The floor reiterated that it was not always a simple practice to target dumping effectively.

It also emerged that industry is concerned about the effect of any concessions made by the South African government, a position that is reflected in Mpahlwa's ten-point plan.

The programme seeks to entrench the needs of African countries as they develop and expand.

The issue was raised, on Friday, that market access quotas could undermine the current level of tariff protection and, when negotiating these aspects, government should exercise extreme caution.

Carim indicated that the services-sector report would include a reference to impact assessments as part of an ongoing research project into the effect of concessions made.

The trade discussion forum proposed that there should be freedom of transit through the most convenient route.

This is coupled with requirements for nondiscrimination, no unnecessary delays and no unreasonable charges.

Trade also wanted to see fees and formalities not being used as a form of indirect protection.

South Africa also needed to look at capacity building - a term that needed further definition - at ports and accept that trade facilitation here went further than customs, and had to also include information sharing.

Looking specifically at antidumping and trade subsidies, the discussion forum proposed that sensitive sectors should be protected.

In agriculture, the forum called for additional protection for some products, which should be balanced with safeguard mechanisms.

The concerns raised by the business and labour delegates attending the two-day consultative conference, appear to mirrored government's own positions ahead of the Hong Kong meeting in December.

Meanwhile, there is an acknowledgement that the 'round will not be given away free', and that there will be a need for some give-and-take, South Africa is concerned that the developmental bias meant to provide the framework is at risk of yielding to the market-access ambitions of the developed world.

It has, therefore, set in place a ten-point negotiation plan, which highlights that Doha negotiations must fasttrack the elimination of tariff peaks and escalation in developed product markets on products of export interest to African countries.

Mpahlwa went on to say that developed countries should cease efforts to exempt 'sensitive' agricultural products from tariff liberalisation.

He added that the term 'sensitive', applied to specific products, should be interpreted narrowly.

Third on South Africa's list is that all Group of Eight countries should provide nonreciprocal duty-free and quota-free access for all products from the least-developed countries, as this would assist in enabling market access.

In addition, said Mpahlwa, it is vital to facilitate exports of African services into developed countries, which would include providing better access for temporary movement of African workers and outsourcing.

Fifth on the ten-point plan is that there should be a mechanism in the WTO that allows African countries the flexibility to not implement certain rules, as long as the exemption is properly motivated.

In addition, said Mpahlwa, it is important to review and revise WTO agreements from a development perspective.

Seventh on the government's agenda is that there should be more effective financial and technical cooperation to allow for compensation of any erosion of preferences that may occur as a result of the Doha round and regional arrangements.

Eighth, developing countries require extended trade capacity to address supply constraints that will expand trade-capacity building, enhance competitiveness and assist African countries to penetrate markets.

Ninth, mechanisms that allow African countries access to the markets that have been opened up must be addressed in the form of long-term finance.

Lastly, said Mpahlwa, there must be policy coherence among the multilateral and bilateral donor communities, which should be complemented with greater coordination at the implementation level and donors should not employ nontrade conditions to qualify for assistance.