S. Africa pledges to work with U.S. in resolving trade issues

South African authorities on Tuesday pledged to work with the United States in resolving trade issues that threaten to exclude Pretoria from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

"SA's Departments of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries are working closely with the local U.S. embassy, local importers and U.S. exporters, to facilitate the first shipments of U.S. poultry under the agreed Quota for U.S. bone-in-chicken pieces," DTI spokesperson Sidwell Medupe said in a statement.

This came after the White House issued a presidential proclamation on Monday that South Africa's trade benefits on agricultural goods under the AGOA will be suspended if American poultry is not allowed into South Africa by March 15.

SA Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies announced last week that his government had concluded negotiations with the U.S. on the final barriers to the import of American poultry into South Africa, thus averting sanctions by Washington.

But now the U.S. government says it is testing the system to make sure the meat will be available on store shelves in South Africa.

The office of the U.S. trade representative says if the remaining benchmark - the entry of U.S. poultry into South Africa under the agreed-upon conditions - is met before 15 March, Obama will be able to consider a revocation of the proclamation before suspension takes effect.

In response to the U.S. threat, Medupe said South Africa is confident that the first shipment will arrive in the next few weeks and the U.S. President will consequently revoke the above proclamation.

Also on Tuesday, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) said it will not allow the South African government to be bullied by the United States.

"We can't allow to be bullied, that's why many countries are looking at south-south relations and looking east because you can' t use the size of your economy to squeeze small economies," ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said in remarks distributed by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).

Kodwa said it is important that the U.S. appreciates South Africa as a sovereign state with its own national interest.

Under the deal reached with the U.S. last week, South Africa will import 65, 000 tonnes of US poultry a year.

With regard to pork, South Africa has agreed to permit the unrestricted importation of the shoulder cuts after the U.S. agreed to apply mitigation measures.

South Africa has also agreed to import beef from the U.S.," he said.

In return, South African agricultural products will continue to enjoy trade preferences for quota and duty-free entry into the U.S.

The March 15 deadline is the second placed on South Africa by the US. In November last year, Obama set December 31 as the deadline for South Africa to conclude the negotiations on opening its markets to poultry, pork and beef from the U.S. or face the risk of losing AGOA benefits.

The two sides allowed negotiations to continue for some more days to resolve outstanding technical issues, particularly highly pathogenic avian influenza and salmonella.

South African had blocked chicken imports from the US because of outbreaks of avian flu in parts of the U.S. and because of concerns about salmonella infection. It has also been citing concerns about diseases in pork and beef to block imports of those products.

SA exported 176 million U.S. dollars worth of agricultural products to the U.S. last year, mainly citrus and wine.

The U.S. renewed the AGOA for another decade last July, Washington said South Africa's participation in AGOA had to undergo out-of-cycle review.

The AGOA, a legislation that was approved by the U.S. Congress in May 2000, is to assist the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa and to improve economic relations between the U.S. and the region. The Act provides trade preferences for quota and duty-free entry into the U.S. for certain goods, under certain conditions.