Focus on Trade and Industry Policy

The policy session held on10 August 1999 provided an opportunity for a dialogue between government, business, labour and community on how to address these challenges. Minister Alec Erwin shared his vision for South Africa and the region. He saw South Africa as being poised at a critical moment in its economic history, ready to either succeed by becoming global competitive, or to decline and become increasingly marginalised. Erwin suggested that success for SouthAfrica would depend heavily on timeous and effective action by all role players, and thedevelopment of the Southern African region as a whole. Government's focus would be on reducing negative perceptions of South Africa which inflated interest rates, promoting investment, addressing the structural problems in the capital market that inhibited small and medium enterprises, and tightening the integration of government investment plans.

Discussions in the policy session centred around two core concerns. The first related to South Africa's interaction with the global economy and its trading partners, such as the EU and SADC, in the context of increased tariff liberalisation. The second concern had a more internal focus on theSouth African economic environment, including the package of supply-side measures andindustrial incentives, and the business regulatory environment. The effective managementof both these areas was seen by all constituencies to be critical to South Africa's potential to succeed economically. However, business and labour were concerned whether thecapacity existed to manage the necessary changes effectively, especially in such areas ascustoms and excise and harmonisation of standards.

The emphasis of the DTI-hosted WTONational Consultative Conference on 24 and 25 August, was on a broad-based discussionof what South Africa's position should be on items for the WTO agenda in the nextround of negotiations. Areas for discussion incd agriculture, trade in services,market access, investment and competition, environment and labour standards, intellectualproperty rights, transparency of government procurement, and e-commerce. DTI indicatedthat further negotiation would be channeled through the Nedlac Trade and Industry Chamber,and at a sectoral level on request.

South Africa could play a crucialrole, along with its alliance partners from newly industrialising and developingcountries, in encouraging a paradigm shift within the developed nations of the WTO. If theWTO is to succeed in the long term, there needs to be a better balance of power betweendeveloped and developing nations, and an acknowledgement by industrialised countries thatthey should share the inevitable cost of restructuring the global economy. Concerns wereexpressed about the capacity of many developing countries to participate in the expectedextensive and resource-draining negotiating process.

Minister Erwin re-confirmed his intention to inc business and labour representatives in the delegation to the Seattle Ministerial meeting in November, and extended the invitation to inc community representation.

Both the policy session and WTOconference gave an indication of the complexity and difficulty of the task facing SouthAfrica if it is to survive economically. It is unlikely that all role players will ever bein full agreement on all issues, because of the diverse interests involved. However, the increasing level of interaction between stakeholders is an encouraging sign that future negotiations will be premised on a broader shared understanding of what it will take to succeed.