by Phyllis Johnson
The second consultative conference between Southern Africa and Europe ended in Windhoek, Namibia, with a pledge to further strengthen and expand the cooperation initiated two years ago in Berlin, before deciding on additional priorities.
The joint ministerial conference considered progress made in implementation of the priorities for 1995/ 96 under “The Berlin Declaration”, which committed SADC and the EU to enter into a comprehensive dialogue to further the development of relations between the two regions.
The Berlin Declaration highlighted key priority areas of cooperation. These include: • political dialogue to exchange views on foreign policy, and the promotion of democracy, peace and stability in the SADC region;
• sharing experiences on regional integration and assisting the SADC integration process through exchange of personnel, training and advice;
• promotion of trade cooperation between the two regions, and within the SADC region, to foster sustainable economic development in southern Africa;
• recognize and promote the role of domestic and foreign investment in southern Africa, and cooperate in developing the capacity and potential of small and medium-scale enterprises in the SADC region;
• coordinate planning and implementation of regional development programmes and projects, particularly in trade and investment promotion with special attention to small and medium scale enterprises, water and energy resources development and management, and combating HIV/AIDS and illicit drug trafficking in southern Africa.
Activities under the Berlin initiative in 1995 included a joint seminar on regional integration held in Europe, and a conference on combating illicit drug trafficking held in South Africa. A seminar on small and medium-scale enterprises was held in Italy a few weeks ago, and a joint conference on HIV /AIDS in southern Africa is planned for Malawi later this year.
The joint ministerial conference is one of the primary institutional structures responsible for overseeing, guiding and monitoring implementation of the Berlin Declaration.
The conference in Windhoek, Namibia, on 14 and 15 October, was attended by government ministers from the member states of the southern African Development Community (SADC) and European Union (EU), and was co-chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mozambique, Hon. Dr. Leonardo Simao, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ireland, Dick Spring, TD.
The conference was opened by the Prime Minister of Namibia, the Right Hon. Hage Geingob, who said the discussions would enhance both parties’ appreciation of “how far we have gone in our cooperative effort, and help to crystallize the future course of action.”
The SADC Executive Secretary, Dr Kaire Mbuende, said balanced region-to-region trade and higher investment in southern Africa could do much to reverse the current imbalances. SADC’s attempts to enhance democracy, peace and stability in southern Africa, he said, will be “seriously undermined as long as our region continues to sink into a quagmire of poverty whereas our European brothers wallow in splendour”.
“Whilst we have the fullest confidence in our joint project with our European partners, we nonetheless believe that in future the success of our partnership should also be judged in terms of bridging the wealth or poverty gap between Europe and Southern Africa.”
Mbuende appealed to the EU to move away from development assistance to the region and to concentrate on “direct foreign investment into productive activities”. He noted that the East Asian countries did not develop because of development assistance, but through direct foreign investment. “Under the Berlin Declaration,” he said, “we are emphasising not only market access but direct investments aimed at exploiting the region’s abundant and largely untapped natural resources for mutual benefit.”
He stressed the importance of transfer of technology to increase industrial productivity and competitiveness. “Our products should be of high quality, and be competitive not only in the EU market but on the global market.”
Mbuende also offered assistance to Europe through the region’s experience in management and resolution of conflict, particularly for Bosnia.
“These expertise need to be recognized in order to enable SADC leaders to contribute effectively to the solution of conflicts in other parts of the world,” he said. “SADC leaders are well-equipped to deal with conflicts which are characterised in ethnic terms. Maybe more than those who are spearheading the process there.”
The notion of regional integration was strongly supported by the European Commissioner responsible for relations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and South Africa, Joao de Deus Pinheiro.
“Within this continuing process of globalisation, regional integration is seen, more and more, as a necessary stepping stone towards a smooth integration of national economies within the global economy,” Pinheiro said “Furthermore, the small size of most national markets and the natural geographical continuity of development areas in Southern Africa make exclusively national development strategies seem ill-advised”
The current president of the Council of Ministers of the European Union, the Irish Foreign Minister Dick Spring, noted that both organizations have increased their membership since the previous meeting, with the addition of Austria, Finland and Sweden to the European Union, and Mauritius joining SADC.
He said relations between Europe and southern Africa are “warm, deep-rooted and longstanding”, and that the “EU-SADC framework is an exciting new model for inter-regional cooperation”. Spring also recalled that one of his predecessors as Foreign Minister, the Nobel Prize Winner Sean McBride, was a great friend of Namibia. McBride was UN Commissioner for Namibia for a number of years, and a key player in the struggle for independence.
The final communique of the joint ministerial conference noted that the first consultation in Berlin, “marked a turning point in the relations between the two regions. The relationship, which had previously been based primarily on development cooperation, had been expanded to include, inter alia, political dialogue, trade and investment.”
The communique said the Windhoek meeting had reviewed political developments in the SADC and EU regions, with special reference to Angola, the Great Lakes region including Burundi, demining and the re-integration of ex-combatants. The ministers expressed concern at the slow progress of the peace process in Angola.
SADC and EU ministers agreed to combat and end the indiscriminate use and spread worldwide of anti-personnel landmines as well as contribute solutions to problems already being caused by these weapons. As a concrete measure, the conference explored ways of improving the effectiveness of landmine clearance operations. SADC said it would call for a worldwide mobilisation of support for demining in those countries affected.
The meeting also reviewed political developments within the EU, noting that the Intergovernmental Conference for the purpose of revising the Treaties establishing the European Union had been launched earlier this year with guidelines for three main areas:
• bringing the Union closer to its citizens;
• reinforcing the institutions of a more democratic and more effective Union; and
• strengthening the Union’s capacity for external action.
The communique also reflected the review of regional integration and cooperation in other fields.
While Dr Mbuende, ministers and others participating from the SADC region referred to the “SADC-EU ministerial conference”, the European players called it “EU-SADC ministerial conference”.
The final statement from Berlin two years ago was entitled “Declaration by the EU Southern Africa Ministerial Conference”, while the closing statement in Windhoek was called “Joint Communique on the Ministerial Conference of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the European Union.”
While not specifically on the agenda, the key area that dominated the discussions in private was the negotiations for a Free Trade Area (FTA) between the European Union and South Africa.
This was initiated two years ago by the outgoing South African Ambassador in Brussels before he was withdrawn by the new government, apparently in the hope that it could be passed quickly.
Closer scrutiny by the South African parliamentary committee dealing with trade, particularly its chairman, Rob Davis, MP, who is very knowledgeable about the SADC region, revealed that the matter needed regional involvement.
Members of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and SADC have expressed great reservations about the negotiations.
President Sam Nujoma of Namibia has said his government will lobby hard to ensure it’s agricultural sector is not ruined by the outcome of the trade discussions.
It has been estimated that the elimination of up to 40 percent of tariff protection could have a major impact on the prices on the South African market. If price reductions of about 20 percent were to occur as a result of the FTA, a substantial proportion of Namibia’s commercial farming cattle activities could be severely hit, resulting in job losses of up to 35,000.
Research undertaken by the European Research Organization (ERO) has also shown that companies in Namibia and elsewhere in the region, producing for the South African market, would suffer as a result of the increased competition with the highly competitive European firms if tariff barriers were removed.
The South African government has not yet drawn up its mandate for the negotiations, but has stated clearly that its partners in the SADC region will be consulted.
The South African High Commissioner to Namibia, Stanley Mabizela, issued a public statement stating his government’s position that SADC should be involved in formulating South Africa’s negotiating position, and that his country welcomes assistance from its partners in SADC to hammer out its strategy and mandate.
“It is our view that SADC as a whole should be integrally involved in formulating our negotiating position and mandate. As part of our commitment to building sustainable and mutually beneficial regional relations, inputs from our SADC partners become imperative in finalising this process.”
Mabizela said the negotiations with EU would be “complex” and would cover a proposed bilateral agreement excluding trade matters, a proposed free trade agreement between the two parties and South Africa’s qualified entry to the Lomé Convention. He said SADC member states had agreed at various meetings, including the 1996 summit in Maseru that the SADC Trade Protocol should be protected and that existing preferential trade accords should be harmonised.
Major concerns raised by SADC include the implications of post-Lomé market access, the expected trade and investment diversion effect, the impact on sectors such as agriculture as well as practical implications of a Free Trade Area which southern Africa could be excluded from — for instance, increased border control and additional rules of origin which go against the move towards liberalisation in the region.
Pinheiro told journalists in Windhoek that the proposed EU-SA free trade agreement will not be implemented if it is found to have a negative impact on the economies of other southern African countries, but he dismissed the possibility of extending the FTA to other SADC countries.
“My mandate was for a trade negotiation for a free trade agreement with South Africa alone and not with other countries in the region,” he said. However, he added that both President Nelson Mandela and Vice- President Thabo Mbeki had indicated to EU that South Africa wants other countries in the region to benefit as well. He said the FTA with South Africa, if agreed upon, would be the last one envisaged by the EU “in the foreseeable future”. Negotiations have been put on hold after South Africa informed the EU that it needed time to consult with its neighbours. (SARDC)
