A first ever public dialogue on future free trade agreements between the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and how beneficial they will be showed that greater awareness was necessary in the economic sector.

The flow of genetically modified organisms (GMO’s), influx of US products to Namibia and other member states of SACU will become a reality within the next 2 years. The meeting was organized by the Agricultural Trade Forum (ATF) in co-operation with the Namibian Manufacturers Association (NMA), sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and presented by the Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (Nepru) and took place in Windhoek on Tuesday. Discussants raised the issue of GMO’s in agricultural trade. It was made clear that national laws that regulate the trade (Cartagena Protocol) and introduction of GMO’s (Namibian Bio-Safety Act) are under consideration by the Namibian Parliament and will guarantee the safeguard of Namibian consumption on the one side and export of Namibian agricultural products to GMO-conscious trading partners on the other side.

The issue of exaggerated agricultural subsidies in the USA was raised and ways and means to neutralize the effect thereof were discussed. One solution discussed was the possibility of excluding agricultural products that are heavily subsidized, from the FTA and to declare them as sensitive products.