Dialogue on Promoting Trade Policy Reform in South Africa

The document details a 2011 workshop on South African trade policy reform. It examines the challenges of the WTO Doha Development Round, specifically the imbalance between agricultural protections in developed nations and demands for market access in services and industrial goods (NAMA). The dialogue explores services liberalization from Indian and SADC regional perspectives, emphasizing the need for regulatory frameworks to support employment. Finally, it assesses the use of Industrial Development Zones (IDZs) and Export Processing Zones (EPZs) to lower business costs and attract investment to boost South African exports.

• South Africa's trade policy is guided by the New Growth Path and the National Industrial Policy Framework, aiming to diversify the economy and encourage "value-added, labour-absorbing industrial production" while reducing reliance on commodity exports.
• There is a perceived imbalance in the WTO Doha Development Round, where developed countries demand market access in services and Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) while maintaining protections for their agricultural sectors.
• South Africa faces a lopsided exchange rate in WTO negotiations, as developed countries expect significant tariff cuts from developing nations while continuing to provide agricultural subsidies.
• India's approach to services liberalization has been "cautious and gradual," utilizing a "learning by doing" method of unilateral liberalization followed by multilateral binding, heavily influenced by political economy considerations.
• In the SADC region, services trade liberalization is driven by unilateral actions, the SADC Protocol on Trade in Services, and EPA negotiations with the EU, though the region is lagging in achieving the "substantially all trade" milestone for the EPA.
• Services liberalization in South Africa requires careful sector-by-sector analysis because manufacturing is a primary driver of demand for services; consequently, a decline in manufacturing would negatively impact services and overall growth.
• Exporting in South Africa is a minority activity where typical exporters provide less than 10% of their output, and high business and transport costs create a barrier that generally only large firms can overcome.
• Industrial Development Zones (IDZs) in Richards Bay, East London, Coega, and ORTIA aim to attract foreign investment in labor-intensive manufacturing, but current incentives are often insufficient to attract investors without additional support like infrastructure or job-training subsidies.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2011). Dialogue on Promoting Trade Policy Reform in South Africa. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/edip_report_trade_reform_dialogue_201103.pdf

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Dialogue on Promoting Trade Policy Reform in South Africa. 2011. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/edip_report_trade_reform_dialogue_201103.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Dialogue on Promoting Trade Policy Reform in South Africa |date=23 March 2011 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/edip_report_trade_reform_dialogue_201103.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2011dialogue, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Dialogue on Promoting Trade Policy Reform in South Africa}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2011}, month = mar, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/edip_report_trade_reform_dialogue_201103.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }