BMA – to be first order of business when Parliment re-opens

Lebombo+border+postA “Unified border guard and authority” will be one of the first orders of business when Parliament opens for the third quarter of the year.

On the agenda for the portfolio committee on home affairs is “processing the Border Management Authority Bill — which‚ a statement noted‚ is a modified name as “the authority was called the agency in the former draft of the bill”‚ it said at the weekend.

It was necessitated by “inefficiencies resulting from having many government departments co-ordinating, and often duplicating, the securing of SA’s land‚ sea and air borders,” which “have contributed to the porous 5,244km border”.

“The bill and related authority aim to centralise the border-related responsibilities of‚ amongst others‚ the Department of Home Affairs‚ the South African National Defence Force and Police Service‚ Customs of the South African Revenue Service as well as aspects of the Departments of Agriculture‚ Environment and Health‚” the committee said in the statement.

After briefings‚ public hearings and written submissions‚ it is “likely to be finalised in the last quarter of 2016 or early in 2017”.

Also on the committee’s plate is “reliable higher bandwidth network services” needed by the Department of Home Affairs “to facilitate the expanded roll-out of technology-driven service delivery improvements”.

“These include paperless applications for more secure smart identification cards and passports as well as online visa and permits processes. The Department of Home Affairs has experienced challenges with the network services provided by the State Information Technology Agency and is in the process of seeking alternatives.” Source: Buisness Day Live

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e-Book: BRICS – South Africa’s Way Ahead?

Another Tralac sponsored publication which should be of great interest to trade practitioners, economists and investors, and agricultural specialists. Herewith the foreword to the ebook which is available for download from Tralac’s website – Click here!

The accession of South Africa into the BRICS formation has attracted a lot of attention internationally. Some welcomed the step while others questioned it. A closer look at BRICS reveals that these countries share some fundamental features while they differ in others. On that note, this book does not attempt to define BRICS.

BRICS-front-cover-webBRIC, the acronym, was coined by Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs in 2001. The founding members of this political formation are Brazil, Russia, India and China, aligning well with the word formulation. The formation of the BRIC was motivated by global economic developments and change in the geopolitical configurations. South Africa joined the group in 2011, thus opening the possibility of putting Africa on the BRICS’ agenda. South Africa’s admission to the group was motivated by China and supported by Russia. Its accession to the BRICS generated much discussion about the country’s suitability to be part of the formation. One of the real issues raised is that South Africa does not measure up to the other BRIC economies in terms of population, trade levels and performance, and growth rates. A formation such as the BRICS is of value to South Africa only if the country’s strategic development interests (relating, for example, to agriculture) are to be on the agenda. South Africa faces particular challenges related to market access into the BRIC countries.

Agricultural issues are discussed under the Standing Expert Working Group on Agriculture and Agrarian Development. The issues that are prioritised include:

  • The development of a general strategy for access to food (this is where market access needs to be tabled), which is tasked to Brazil
  • Impact of climate change of food security, which is allocated to South Africa
  • The enhancement of agricultural technology, cooperation and innovation that is allocated to India
  • Creation of an information base of BRICS countries that is allocated to China

In 2012, at the annual conference of the Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa, the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) co-hosted a workshop aimed at establishing a dialogue on how agriculture can benefit from South Africa’s membership of the BRICS. It came out clearly from the workshop that agriculture needs to be better positioned to benefit from the BRICS formation. One important issue that was noted was that market access for South African agricultural produce into the BRICS countries could be improved. In this regard, an honest question was raised whether, as the country’s agriculture stakeholders, we fold our arms and do nothing since this this is a political formation (while market access is an economic issue), or whether we use this political formation to address our socioeconomic issues as they relate to these countries. Market access is one of the issues of interest to South Africa’s agriculture industry within the BRICS formation, together with issues such as the diffusion of technologies and collaborations.

The research that is presented in this book addresses a range of important issues related to the trade and investment relations among these countries. The performance of their agricultural sectors as well as trade amongst these countries is also examined. There is also focus on the relationship between BRICS and Africa, and what this means for South Africa’s trade relations with other African countries. Source: Tralac