| Summary: | Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. === On October 1999 South Africa signed a historic TDCA with the European Union. The main
objective of this agreement is to liberalise most trade between the two parties over time
through a free trade agreement. Namibia as a member of SACU became automatically a de
facto member of the SA-EU FTA. At the same time the EU concluded another 20-year
agreement with the ACP countries effectively changing its traditional trade relationship with
these countries. Namibia also being a member of the ACP group of countries finds itself in the
middle of these two agreements.
South Africa and the EU however opted to leave some of the sectors that are considered
sensitive out of the free trade agreement in order to mitigate some of the adjustment costs
likely to be faced by lesser-developed partners in SACU such as Namibia. Beef is one of
those sensitive sectors as it is the main Namibian agricultural export to both the EU and South
Africa. The fisheries sector likewise contributes a lot to Namibia's export earnings and the
fact South Africa and the EU are negotiating for a fisheries agreement could mean a change in
Namibia's competitive position in this sector.
The impact that these two agreements will have on the beef sector is not very significant or at
least manageable at this stage. The impact on the fisheries sector is mainly uncertain at this
stage in the absence of an EU-SA fisheries agreement. The major impact of the SA-EU FTA
will be on government revenues, which rely heavily on receipts from the SACU common
revenue pool.
The SADC has also started its regional economic integration process, which the EU hopes to
be a move towards a REPA with which it hopes to do business as part of the new Cotonou
Agreement. However the vast disparities in economic development between the EU and
SADC does not favour such a move. The benefits will most probably accrue to the EU and the
costs to SADC countries, especially those countries that are not part of SACU. It is important
that if the new Cotonou Agreement is to be mutually beneficial steps need to be taken to
strengthen the industrial and export capacities of the ACP countries. Otherwise this wave of
globalisation will be nothing but a zero sum game.
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