Africa-Press – Botswana. Agricultural Business Chamber’s (Agbiz) chief economist, Wandile Sihlobo, said yesterday that South Africa should send a firm message to neighbouring Namibia and Botswana about its interest in maintaining smooth trade within the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) and that these countries should ease the current restrictions on vegetables.“If there are attempts to revive their domestic vegetable industries, such should be communicated clearly to South Africa, as an affected partner, with clear time frames of these bans. Such information would be valuable in assisting the South African industry and government to plant appropriately for export markets to other regions when the ban is in place,” Sihlobo said.
“Countries such as India, China and Saudi Arabia should be on the top of the agenda for deepening trade and co-operation. Still, these should not be at the expense of existing trade partners but an addition. The political relationship established through BRICS+ is the first step, and South Africa should capitalise on it,” he said.
These countries had large populations and strong economic power.
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