SA, India, Brazil eye trade bloc
Richard Mantu
13 April 2004
India, Brazil and South Africa are considering establishing an ambitious South-South economic trade bloc with a market of 1.2 billion people and potential foreign trade worth US$300-billion.
South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and her Indian and Brazilian counterpart agreed in March to consider signing a trilateral cooperation agreement to create a strong trade bloc to fight poverty, create jobs and give more weight to developing nations at trade negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Dlamini-Zuma said the ministers, meeting in India, had launched a trilateral joint commission to "try to give concrete meaning to the idea of South-South cooperation".
"We also discussed how we can work together not only on trade matters among ourselves, but in the international trade legal system like the WTO", Dlamini-Zuma said. "We want to make sure that what comes out of the WTO will benefit us as developing
countries."
To facilitate the establishment of the trade bloc, the three ministers agreed to seek convergence on free trade negotiations between the three countries and their regions.
This will be achieved by concluding bilateral free trade agreements between the five-member Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and South American trade bloc Mercusor, between the SACU and India, and between Mercusor and India.
The SACU consists of South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, Botswana and Lesotho.
The three countries are also considering establishing a trilateral business council, running direct flights between South Africa, India and Brazil, and establishing a sea transport corridor between the three countries.
Source: BuaNews
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