South Africa secures Brexit trade agreement
Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South Africa on Wednesday confirmed that it has concluded a new trade deal with the UK, which will kick off if Britain leaves the European Union without a trade agreement.
The UK is set to leave the EU on 31 October despite the fact that no trade deal has been negotiated and Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to push for a speedy exit.
Addressing the media in Cape Town, Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel said South Africa and five other Sub-Saharan African countries – Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho, Mozambique and Namibia – had secured a deal that would safeguard them in ten events of a no-deal Brexit.
The deal ensures that trade ties will continue as normal with the UK irrespective of the Brexit outcome.
"This creates the environment which preserves current trading conditions and protects jobs. If a deal is reached between the UK and the EU, this acts as an insurance policy," said Patel.
The new agreement will be known as the SACUM-UK Economic Partnership Agreement.
UK International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss, said it will allow businesses to keep trading after Brexit “without any additional barriers".
South Africa’s official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) said it believes the agreement will give the business community the confidence it needs to invest in long term production and capacity which will result in increased jobs.
“We trust that this agreement will provide a perfect platform to keep the status quo into the future and will allow South Africa to build on future trade negations with the UK to widen our ability to export to this market, especially in agricultural products like beef and poultry,” said DA spokesperson Bongisa Mhaga.
-0- PANA CU/VAO 11Sept2018
