SA digs in on African business visas

Source: by Linda Ensor, - Business Day, 29/07/2015

THE Department of Home Affairs, which is leading SA`s negotiations on
the movement of business people within a future African tripartite
free trade area, is strongly resisting a bid by the East African
Community (EAC) for business visas to be issued on arrival.
The free and easy movement of business people is a crucial mechanism
to promote trade and investment.
Plans are under way for an accord that will form part of the
tripartite agreement between three economic communities — the EAC, the
Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the Common Market of
Eastern and Southern Africa — launched in Egypt last month. These
economic communities include 26 countries with a population of
626-million people.
The Department of Home Affairs is defending its controversial visa
regulations, which the tourism industry blames for a slump in foreign
visitors. The regulations require biometric details of visa applicants
and unabridged birth certificates of children travelling with them. An
interministerial task team is investigating the effect of the
regulations on the economy.
The department is engaged in a visa dispute with Kenya, which wants to
restore a reciprocal free visa system between itself and SA. The
dispute arose after SA decided to impose strict visa regulations on
Kenyans, requiring them to pay at least $60 for a visa and wait seven
days for approval. South Africans travelling to Kenya do not require a
visa but the Kenyan government has threatened to impose visa fees if
SA does not revert to the free visa system.
The Department of Trade and Industry`s acting chief director of Africa
multilateral relations, Phemelo Marishane, said in a briefing to
Parliament`s trade and industry committee yesterday that home affairs
believed it would not be possible to issue visas to African business
people on arrival in SA as there was no legislation providing for
this. But the EAC is insistent.
Instead, home affairs had proposed extending the special Brics
(Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA) visa to the 26 states which
would be included in the tripartite agreement. The Brics port of entry
visa for business executives, which came into effect in December,
allows for multiple entries to SA for the 10-year duration of the
visa. Each visit is limited to 30 days. The special visa was intended
to facilitate entry of commercial visitors from Brics countries with
the promise of a visa being issued within five days.
Mr Marishane said a special committee was dealing with the movement of
business people but negotiations were at an early stage.
Trade and industry`s chief director of trade negotiations Niki Kruger
said the tripartite agreement would only begin to have an economic
benefit once agreements on tariffs were finalised and implemented as
this would provide better access to markets. Tariff negotiations were
expected to take six to 12 months, while the negotiations on trade
remedies and rules of origin should be finalised within 12 months.
Mr Marishane said no new tariff offers had been concluded. SA had
exchanged a tariff offer with the EAC. The union`s tariff offer to
Egypt was pending and the customs union would negotiate with Ethiopia
and other non-Sadc members. He noted that Ethiopa`s economy was
growing at a rapid rate and SA should be linked with it.
SA had not yet signed the free trade agreement, which was being
"legally scrubbed". So far 16 of the 26 participating countries had
signed it.
Trade Law Centre of Southern Africa executive director Trudi
Hartzenberg stressed in an interview that there were big hurdles to
overcome before the tripartite free trade area became a reality.