The U.S. Department of Agriculture and its counterparts in South Africa spoke at length yesterday in an attempt to resolve the remaining technical issues on a health certificate for U.S. poultry and a protocol on avian influenza, both major impediments to reopening the South African market to U.S. poultry.
Despite assurances by high-ranking South African officials that all would be worked out by a deadline of Oct. 15, technicalities remain on several details of the agreement. The United States has insisted that South Africa follow World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) guidelines on regionalization for avian influenza, but South African agricultural officials claim they interpret the OIE language somewhat differently than does the United States. Differences also remain on the health certificate.
“It’s disappointing that we had a process in place and we had an agreement in June in Paris with the South Africans,” said NCC President Mike Brown. “We are now encouraging our government to take the necessary actions to get these negotiations back on track and get our chicken back into the South African market as soon as possible.”
South Africa’s current benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, are set to expire in January. The U.S. Congress has made clear that they would seek to exclude South Africa from the trade benefits that other African countries are receiving, if U.S. chicken is not allowed entry, after having been unjustifiably shut out for the past 15 years.
Trevor Kincaid, a U.S. Trade Representative deputy assistant told Reuters on Wednesday, “South Africa needs to take concrete steps towards eliminating barriers to U.S. trade and investment, a key criterion to be eligible for AGOA trade benefits.”
AGOA is a U.S. non-reciprocal trade preference initiative providing duty-free treatment to U.S. imports of certain products from eligible sub-Saharan African countries.
