Asean Bilateral & Trade Relations with South Africa

Meeting report

The Chairperson apologised for the time limit that had be placed on the meeting and introduced the delegation. He said that the ambassadors would speak on bilateral and trade relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Africa.

Presentation by seven ASEAN member nations: Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar

Mr Sugeng Rahardjo (Ambassador: Indonesian Embassy) said that exports from Indonesia to South Africa had risen from $429 million to $620 million. Bilateral trade was approximately $900 million which was a significant increase. Business prospects were good. Some of their exports included farm oil, copper, rubber and textiles, furniture, footwear and copper wire. South African export to Indonesia included aluminium, iron and steel. Indonesia was hopeful that future trade would remain good between the two countries. In 2007 the ASEAN economy had grown. Three regions, China, India and the ASEAN had prospective economic growth. He suggested that they meet on how to further develop trade relations between the South Africa and ASEAN.

Mr Justice Mph Rubiu (Retired High Commissioner: Singapore High Commission) explained that bilateral trade in 2006 had amounted to $1.1 billion in favour of Singapore. However, due to extraordinary factors, there was a huge rise to $1.7 billion. In 2007 those factors could not be repeated and it dropped to $1.3 billion. There was room for improvement in trade between the two countries. The foreign policy in Singapore was characterised by friendliness with surrounding nations. An important aspect of its trade was that Singapore did not have natural resources. Free trade was one of the principal pillars in their foreign policy. Singapore was pro-combating terrorism and felt that dispute should be resolved according to international law. Integration of multi-cultural and religious groups in society was very important. They believed in non-interference with other nations. An important development was the ASEAN Charter that was signed last year. Climate change also affected their foreign policy.

Mr Tzau Duy Thi (Ambassador: Embassy of Vietnam) reminded the Committee that South Africa and Vietnam had opened diplomatic relations only in 1993. The bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to $150 million per year. Vietnamese exports included furniture, rice, paper and food oil. South Africa exported steel, aluminium and various types of machines. Vietnam considered South Africa to be an important gateway through which to enter other markets. They had two South African ventures in Vietnam namely Miller Beer and Coco-Cola. They would like to improve relations with South Africa. In November 2004 the Prime Minister of Vietnam had visited South Africa and in May 2007 the President of South Africa had visited Vietnam.

Mr Vigilio Reyes (Philippines Ambassador: Philippines Embassy) noted that the Philippines was the first nation to gain independence from Spain in 1898.  There was an authoritarian leadership in place between 1972 and 1986. Since 1986 the country had been a democratic state. There was a large people-to-people exchange between the two countries. South Africans had gone to the Philippines to be part of the country’s technical programme. They would also be signing a cultural agreement with South Africa. Among the products exported to South Africa was beer, sardines, condiments, niche furniture, accessories, automotive and machine parts. There were about 1 500 Filipinos working in South Africa. Some of whom were specialists working on the Gautrain.

With the problems that currently confronted South Africa, they suggested that South Africa consider the Filipino model. When President Marcos left office in 1998 the Philippines had also experienced problems with electricity because there had been a lack of projection. The Philippines had a good solution in terms of banking and telecommunications by allowing for foreign investment. Cell phones were the primary means of communication through all the islands. One year of cell phone texting in Europe was equivalent to one month’s texting on the Philippine Islands.  It was also useful for political communication. The monopolies of local banks were broken because foreign investors were allowed to enter the country, which lowered banking charges. Women played an important role in the Philippines and they ranked sixth in terms of gender equality in the world.

Mr Domedej Bunnag (Ambassador: Thai Embassy) mentioned that export between the two nations amounted to $1.52 billion. Thai Airlines managed to have direct flights to Bangkok that brought more exchange of South Africans and Thai. There were opportunities for investment in South Africa especially for small and medium enterprises and Thailand had the potential to invest in mining as well. 

Mr Yahaya Abdul Jabar (High Commissioner: High Commission of Malaysia) noted that Malaysia had various contacts throughout the hierarchy of the South African government. Bilateral trade between the countries saw an amount of $1.14 billion last year.  Malaysian exports included electrical components, farm oil and furniture. The most recent addition to exports was the Proton, the Malaysian car. South Africa was Malaysia’s largest trading partner on the continent. Imports from South Africa included minerals and chemicals. Malaysia was the biggest investor from the ASEAN with a total investment of $2.2 billion mostly in petrochemicals. Engen was 80% Malaysian owned and 20% BEE owned. There was a big refinery in Durban that supplied quite a percentage of oil to the country. Malaysia also invested in property development.  Malaysia Airlines had flights to SA three times a week.  South Africa and Malaysia had common values regarding foreign policy. They were both members of the United Nations, Commonwealth and the World Trade Organisation. Malaysia believed in fair and balanced trade between nations.

Mr Ohn Thwin (Ambassador: Embassy of Myanmar) explained that Myanmar was still attempting to become a democratic state and had just opened a democratic link with South Africa. Thailand opened their markets at the beginning of the 1990s. However, at that time Western countries had placed embargos and sanctions on them. Therefore they traded only within their region. They were hopeful that by 2010 their government would be able to have bilateral trade to South Africa.

Mr Rahardjo concluded that trade between South Africa and the ASEAN countries stood at between $4 and $5 billion and that almost 9% of the total trade in South Africa. Furthermore there were three flight carriers from the region that offer direct flights. In 1967 the ASEAN founding fathers had aimed to cultivate a culture of peace and that was the reason that there was no conflict in South-East Asia. If there were any disputes they would settle these through negotiation rather than military force. ASEAN initiatives with other regions included those with the European Union and Latin America. There linkages between ASEAN and Africa through strategic partnership, good cooperation between the all the continents. ASEAN would like to share with all the countries on the African continent to develop a good cooperation understanding.

Discussion

Prof P Turok (ANC) felt that South-South trade was very important. There should be a joint statement from all the members of the ASEAN. Coordination was vital and he would be very interested in any document that indicated their efforts at coordination within the region.

Mr Rahardjo offered to facilitate interaction with Jakarta to ensure that the Committee received a joint document indicating their efforts at coordination in the region.

Prof Turok commented that South Africa’s experience of free trade was asymmetrical. He wanted to know between whom would the free trade occur.

Mr Rahardjo replied that in 2000 the ASEAN Free Trade Area had been launched. Since then there had been zero tariffs on countries trading in that area. Almost 560 million people lived in ASEAN countries and some countries, due to sanctions or embargos, had to trade only in the ASEAN region. They believed that the playing field should be level and therefore ASEAN helped new member countries with economic development in order to ensure that they were on the same level as the other ASEAN countries.

Ms S Camerer (DA) was interested in human trafficking and asked for comments on this. 

Mr Rahardjo replied that in 1992 ASEAN had started to develop a strategy that dealt with non-traditional security issues such as human trafficking, drugs, terrorism and organised crime. In order to overcome human trafficking they had increased police and immigration officials at customs. There was a linked system in each ASEAN country that kept each other informed. Indonesia had been a victim of terrorism on three different occasions and because of this centres intent on identifying potential terrorism had been established in the country. It was also important to cooperate on intelligence. 

Mr Bunnag replied that he thought that the South African legislature should give priority to human trafficking. He did know that there was a draft Bill on human trafficking that had been in Parliament for three to four years. He had spoken to police and public prosecutors who were eager to tackle human trafficking. Thailand had drafted a Memorandum of Understanding with South Africa on the prevention and suppression of human trafficking. Seven Thai girls in Durban had volunteered to give evidence against human trafficking networks. However they had been waiting for authorities to act for the past eight months.

Mr M Skosana (IFP) was impressed and felt that they should learn from the philosophy of established peace and that one of the important pillars was economic interdependence. He wanted to know how did they remain so resilient. Furthermore he wanted to know how they maintained and safeguarded against external interference

Mr Rahardjo replied that there was national resilience in every member country.  Internal stability resulted in a stable economy. In order to face the external powers, in 1994 ASEAN established the ASEAN Regional Forum. Members of the forum included United States of America, European Union, Russia, China, Japan, The Republic of Korea, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and North Korea as well as the members of ASEAN. In the forum interests of power were discussed and thereby informed all the members of security issues and influence of power in the region. This was quite useful because it informed all the superpowers of the issues concerning ASEAN. In this kind of forum confidence building measures were established between the countries. Differences and disputes were also settled between the countries through the forum.

Mr Reyes added that there was a recent successful dialogue about ASEAN character and their way of dealing with issues. Since they were a regional group compromises were made in gain something. They had English as the common language and an informal approach that could be seen as uniquely ASEAN. 

The Chairperson commented that the ASEAN resilience was due to the historical measures that were taken to ensure peace in the region. He raised the question of the ASEAN participation of in the transformation of Africa and the programme of New Partnership for Development (Nepad), both as individual nations and as a group. He realised that they were closely watching South Africa’s relationship with China and India and to know their view on Nuclear power. Furthermore he wanted to know about the religious diversities within the region and how it was handled especially since religion was linked to terrorism. He raised these questions as a way to inspire thought and as a possible part of the agenda.

The Chairperson adjourned the meeting.