Talks for preferential trade agreement between India and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) would be intensified, South Africa's Trade and Industry minister Rob Davies has said.
"During the course of this year, we will intensify negotiations for the preferential trade agreement (PTA) that SACU and India initiated in 2007," Davies said during his budget vote in Parliament.
This PTA would be part of the plans to put the Southern African region and the African continent at the centre of international trade engagements, Davies added.
Last year, SACU had signed a PTA with South American countries, which make up the Mercusor developing region, with hopes at the time that one with India would also be concluded simultaneously. But some countries in the region have reportedly delayed the negotiations.
"Developing countries have become more important in the global economy over the past few decades. We will benefit from building stronger trade and investment relations with these new poles of economic growth in the world economy," the minister said, identifying India, China and Brazil as being among these developing countries.
"Greater effort will go into building these ties, which could help us diversify our trade and investment relations. We can also benefit from the potentially rapid and dynamic economic growth in the South at a time when the recovery in
developed countries is expected to be slow," Davies said.