Johannesburg - The World Trade Organisation (WTO) admits that South Africa needs to implement "disproportionally" large tariff reductions to comply with Doha, but South Africa reckons that the concessions that it offers in exchange are still inadequate and the country cannot agree to them.
This message was delivered to WTO director-general Pascal Lamy last week by a variety of highly placed politicians and other interested groups.
In the previous round of multilateral negotiations, the Uruguay Round, which ended in 1994, South Africa participated as a developed country and consequently implemented tariff reductions that were more significant than those of comparable middle-income countries such as India, for example.
Although there is "partial recognition" of the exceptionally high industry tariff reductions South Africa agreed to in the Uruguay round, the offer currently on the table is still considered "significantly inadequate".
"We still have to implement disproportionately large tariff reductions, which will affect employment in our country," Trade & Industry minister Rob Davies told Sake24.
According to the Department of Trade & Industry the existing Doha framework will lead to about 23% of South Africa's industry tariffs being cut by more than 30%. This will leave the government with precious little room to manoeuvre to protect and develop local industries as part of its industrial strategy.
There is particular concern about the impact of reduced tariffs on industries that are already struggling to compete but have high staffing levels, such as the clothing, textile and motor industries.
On Friday evening Lamy had a meeting with Davies, Ebrahim Patel, Minister of Economic Development, parliamentary committee members and Nedlac representatives, at which progress on the Doha negotiations and concerns about the impact on South Africa were discussed.
Economic pressure
Apart from the "unfair" impact that Doha could have on South Africa, it is also feared that the Doha negotiations could lose sight of the country's development objective.
Owing to the economic crisis there is much political pressure to complete Doha, partly because it will restrict protectionist trade practices such as subsidisation and higher tariffs. Davies however said that South Africa was less concerned about when negotiations would be finalised.
"What is important to us is the content of the agreement," he said. "There are still many unresolved issues, including our issue, and we are not wedded to a time schedule. We want to see a development outcome."
Business South Africa (Busa), in a submission to Lamy, also said that the Doha negotiations offered a unique opportunity to remove some of the structural imbalances in global trade which made it difficult for developing countries to participate fully.
"The WTO negotiations present the possibility of correcting imbalances in the global trading system to the benefit of developing countries," Busa said.
One of the major Doha stumbling blocks is developed countries' use of agricultural subsidies, which keep prices low and make it difficult for developing countries to compete.
Lamy told Reuters that the aim of concluding the negotiations next year is achievable, in part thanks to "a number of positive political indicators, from the United States and India in particular". He however warned that the technical issues involved in finalising such a complex series of negotiations would remain a challenge.
-Sake24