Editorial in Business Day of Johannesburg

Despite an existing trade agreement with the EU (the Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement, or TDCA), SA asked last year to be included in the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) that the EU was negotiating with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

As the EPAs were intended to be agreements with a developmental approach, SA stood to gain significantly from its inclusion, and initially the EU balked at the request for this reason. But it eventually accepted SA's motivation that an aligned trade regime would help facilitate regional integration, and in March the European Commission acceded to SA's participation.