31 March 2008
Botswana will host a Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Council of Ministers' meeting at the Phakalane Golf Estate on Friday.
This will be the 14th SACU Council of Ministers' meeting after the new SACU agreement came into force in 2004. The meetings are held on quarterly basis.
The SACU secretariat in Windhoek, Namibia says the Gaborone meeting will, among other things, receive a report from the executive secretary, which will provide a strategic overview of the organisation's progress and challenges experienced in the implementation of the 2002 SACU agreement to date.
SACU says the report will provide an analytical perspective regarding the promotion of deeper regional integration through the 2002 agreement.
The secretariat says the council will receive updates on SACU trade negotiations with third parties, which include SACU-USA Trade, Investment and Development Cooperation Agreement (TIDCA).
The 2002 agreement is a cooperation deal aimed at promoting investment and expanding and diversifying trade between SACU and the United States.
The other agreements being negotiated are the SACU-India Preferential Trade. SACU and India delegates met in February 2008 in Walvis Bay, Namibia, for the second round of negotiations towards conclusion of a Preferential Trade Agreement. The meeting considered a final draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for negotiating a Preferential Trade Agreement between the SACU and India. The Friday meeting in Gaborone will asses the progress made on SACU-Mercosur Preferential Trade Agreement Negotiations. The 12th final negotiating round between SACU and Mercosur is scheduled to take place on April 17-18, 2008.
The 14th SACU Council of Ministers' meeting comes at a time when SACU faces a number of key challenges, especially with regard to relations with third parties. The meeting will receive updates on the development of the Common Negotiating Mechanism (CNM) for SACU in line with Article 31 of the 2002 SACU Agreement.
The CNM will ensure a common SACU position and approach towards trade relations with third parties. The meeting will get an update on the work of the Regional Integration Task Team studies on the consolidation of SACU. With the ongoing debate on deeper regional integration, SACU feels it has to define its strategy.
Currently there are ongoing studies that assess the possible impact of the current regional developments on SACU. The studies will inform the development of a SACU-wide strategy to be developed during the course of 2008. The SACU ministers' meeting will be preceded by a meeting of the Customs Union Commission on Wednesday and Thursday. The council is the supreme decision-making authority on all SACU matters. It is assisted by the Customs Union Commission, which comprises the Permanent Secretaries of Finance and Trade and Industry from the member states.
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