NAU praises Govt on EU deal

THE Namibia Agricultural Union says it is grateful and relieved that Government signed an interim trade deal with the European Union (EU) last week.

“The NAU would like to express its joy and gratitude about the signature. It is well known that negotiations between Government and the EU were at times difficult,” said NAU President Raimar von Hase.”NAU appreciates that certain key issues will still have to be negotiated until a full Economic partnership Agreement (EPA) can be signed,” Von Hase said in a statement issued Friday.In his view, the interim EPA initialled in Brussels last week by Namibian Ambassador Hanno Rumpf indicated a “strong determination on both sides to reach a sustainable agreement” next year.”Exports of prime Namibian beef will now continue unhindered and benefit from the new arrangement of duty-free and quota-free (DFQF) access to the 27 member states of the EU.In the foreseeable future, bone-in lamb from Namibia can be added to the scope of Namibian meat exports, further benefiting rural areas.”He said the NAU hoped that Namibian farmers would take up the excellent marketing opportunity to the EU, not restricted to a quota of 13 000 tonnes a year any more, and continue to concentrate on the production of high-quality beef.”It is of utmost importance that the existing abattoir facilities in Namibia will be fully utilised and the current trend of a decline experienced in inland slaughtering be reversed.”Meanwhile, the Council of the European Union has reached political agreement to grant ACP countries duty- and quota-free access to the EU market from January 1 2008.Countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific are regarded as ACP bloc.Transition periods for sugar and rice will be accommodated.The Council regulation will be formally adopted on Thursday.It will apply to those ACP countries that have concluded negotiations on either a full economic partnership agreement (EPA) or an interim agreement, which will be listed in Annex I of the regulation.Any ACP state that initials an agreement with the EC before December 20 can be included in this annex to benefit from the market access provisions applicable next month.The regulation is expected to provide for the possibility of amending the annex for countries concluding negotiations at a later stage.Namibia at the moment exports about N$3 billion of meat, grapes and fish to EU countries every year.Namibia exported around 9 600 tonnes of deboned prime beef cuts to the EU and 200 tonnes of mutton/lamb with a joint market value of N$320 million.About 22 500 tonnes of table grapes for N$400 million were also exported.Fish exports came to approximately 500 000 tonnes a year.The existing trade agreement between the EU and the 78 ACP countries expires on December 31 and was reached seven years ago under the Cotonou agreement.This was however regarded as ‘illegal’ and incompatible with the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).It is well known that negotiations between Government and the EU were at times difficult,” said NAU President Raimar von Hase.”NAU appreciates that certain key issues will still have to be negotiated until a full Economic partnership Agreement (EPA) can be signed,” Von Hase said in a statement issued Friday.In his view, the interim EPA initialled in Brussels last week by Namibian Ambassador Hanno Rumpf indicated a “strong determination on both sides to reach a sustainable agreement” next year.”Exports of prime Namibian beef will now continue unhindered and benefit from the new arrangement of duty-free and quota-free (DFQF) access to the 27 member states of the EU.In the foreseeable future, bone-in lamb from Namibia can be added to the scope of Namibian meat exports, further benefiting rural areas.”He said the NAU hoped that Namibian farmers would take up the excellent marketing opportunity to the EU, not restricted to a quota of 13 000 tonnes a year any more, and continue to concentrate on the production of high-quality beef.”It is of utmost importance that the existing abattoir facilities in Namibia will be fully utilised and the current trend of a decline experienced in inland slaughtering be reversed.”Meanwhile, the Council of the European Union has reached political agreement to grant ACP countries duty- and quota-free access to the EU market from January 1 2008.Countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific are regarded as ACP bloc.Transition periods for sugar and rice will be accommodated.The Council regulation will be formally adopted on Thursday.It will apply to those ACP countries that have concluded negotiations on either a full economic partnership agreement (EPA) or an interim agreement, which will be listed in Annex I of the regulation.Any ACP state that initials an agreement with the EC before December 20 can be included in this annex to benefit from the market access provisions applicable next month.The regulation is expected to provide for the possibility of amending the annex for countries concluding negotiations at a later stage.Namibia at the moment exports about N$3 billion of meat, grapes and fish to EU countries every year.Namibia exported around 9 600 tonnes of deboned prime beef cuts to the EU and 200 tonnes of mutton/lamb with a joint market value of N$320 million.About 22 500 tonnes of table grapes for N$400 million were also exported.Fish exports came to approximately 500 000 tonnes a year.The existing trade agreement between the EU and the 78 ACP countries expires on December 31 and was reached seven years ago under the Cotonou agreement.This was however regarded as ‘illegal’ and incompatible with the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).