Events
Brexit Workshop – Namibia, 28 November 2017
tralac collaborated with the Namibian Agricultural Trade Forum to present a Workshop on Brexit in Namibia on 28 November 2017.
The Workshop, on the topic Issues, implications and future scenarios of BREXIT, was the first formal discussion among stakeholders in the region.
Namibia is a party to the SADC Economic Partnership Agreement between the members of the European Union on the one hand and the member states of the Southern African Customs Union (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and South Africa) and Mozambique.
The SADC EPA provides duty-free quota free (DQFQ) market access to the European Union; the rules of origin provide for extensive cumulation opportunities for firms, while still enjoying DFQF market access.
Multiple safeguard options are available to ensure that surges of imports from the EU that may cause injury to Namibian and other SADC EPA member state industries, can be addressed.
Taking into account the fact that Namibia exports several agricultural and other products to the EU, and in particular to the United Kingdom, the impact of BREXIT is of key trade policy and trade performance interest. Namibia’s exports of beef, table grapes, fish and fish products, amongst others are important in the UK market.
For some products, a UK access point is important in the longer value chain to the final destination markets in the rest of the European Union.
For this reason, the post-BREXIT relationship between the UK and EU is also of key importance to Namibia, and the other SADC EPA member states.
In brief, BREXIT is a reminder of the interconnections among the markets manifest in complex value chains from country of origin to final consumer destination, and that future trade agreements can facilitate, but also complicate such trade relationships.
These and other legal and institutional issues were discussed at the BREXIT Workshop. Trudi Hartzenberg, Anton Faul (Namibian Agricultural Trade Forum and tralac Associate) and Professor Gerhard Erasmus (tralac Associate) made presentations at the Workshop.
