South African Trade Developments with the Middle East

2011 ended with what looks to be a promising move in the field of South African trade partnerships with international powers. President Jacob Zuma was recently in the middle east during November to visit both the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as well as Oman in order to secure and attempt to foster better trade relationships and foster the way for South African trade in the Middle East region and vice versa.  These two visits formed part of a longer tour by the President, which included a stop in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to sign a memorandum for the Hydropower concept of the Great Inga Project which aims to supply the entire continent with extra power for the developing nations.

President Zuma made his first stop in the UAE on his South African Trade agreement tour to meet with President Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan to discuss some of the current limitations on South African trade products entering the Middle Eastern country. Currently the UAE has a ban on the import of South African meat products and horses, which are some of the key markets that South African trade is looking to improve in quantities over the coming years. The South African President also signed numerous other agreements focusing on opening new trade channels between the nations, an ongoing development between the countries that has proved lucrative for both since the early 2000’s. Around the same time in November, KwaZulu-Natal held a trade and investment conference in Dubai to showcase the opportunities in South Africa for international trade and to attempt to get direct investment from the oil rich Middle Eastern Country.

All of these agreements signed by President Zuma aim to increase the amount of international trade and firmly establish growing freight shipping links between Southern Africa and the Middle East. After success in the UAE, Jacob Zuma travelled to Oman to sign an agreement to secure a policy of “Supplementary Protocol amending the Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income”. All of this aims to increase the amount of international trade by benefitting companies conducting business in both countries to receive taxation benefits, whether they are trading through air or sea freight channels or purely operating business in both countries.

All of these South African trade ventures undertaken by the president and the government can only benefit the trade and investment seen in South Africa over the last 2 years. Greater benefits and discussion will lead to stronger economies for Southern Africa within the next decade, which can raise investment and job creation.