Unified engagement in trade negotiations
The aim of the programme is to ensure unified engagement of SACU Member States in all trade negotiations with third parties. In order to operationalise this mechanism, a set of twelve common principles that will guide SACU in all trade negotiations, to ensure a unified engagement in trade negotiations with third parties was developed. These are as follows:
- Negotiations should be guided by the provisions of the 2002 SACU Agreement;
- SACU should negotiate trade agreements as a bloc and ensure that a balance of interests is achieved in the outcome;
- Negotiations should take cognisance of Member States' bilateral, regional and multilateral commitments;
- Trade agreements should be aimed at building regional productive capacity and industrialisation in SACU to diversify the export profile to include higher value-added products;
- Negotiations should be aimed at diversifying and increasing SACU's access to global markets;
- Tariff offers should support SACU's economic development, specifically industrial and agricultural development;
- SACU should take advantage of lower input costs in global markets, without undermining regional productive capacity;
- SACU should ensure the integrity of the common external tariff, and promote the free flow of goods and services within the union;
- SACU should encourage consistency across all negotiations at bilateral, regional and multilateral level;
- Negotiations should be informed by an impact assessment on Member States;
- Principles of asymmetry and special and differential treatment for developing countries and in favour of the smaller economies in SACU should apply; and
- Future engagements on trade and trade related issues such as new generation issues should be based on common positions to be developed in SACU.