US Ambassador to South Africa Patrick Gaspard has indicated that an agreement on the long-running dispute over South Africa’s antidumping duties on American chicken needed to be secured ahead of government-to-government discussions on the trade and investment framework – the talks are scheduled to take place in Washington DC in mid-April.

The logjam, which has raised the ire of several Senators from both the Democratic and Republican parties, has been identified as a potential threat to South Africa’s continued inclusion as a beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which is set to expire in September 2015.

Gaspard’s statement followed a March 31 letter to Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies, in which 13 US Senators expressed concern about the lack of progress in negotiations over the antidumping duties.

The Senators argued that the duties, which were additional to the tariffs on chicken imports, had effectively blocked the import of American chicken into South Africa for 15 years.

“I just returned to South Africa from Washington, where I met with many of the Senators who signed the letter to Minister Davies on Monday. I can assure you that everyone in Washington wants Agoa’s renewal to go forward, including for South Africa. But it is clear that the only way that will happen is if a fair resolution can be reached on this issue,” Gaspard said in a statement.

The Ambassador was “heartened” to hear of Davies’ work with the poultry industry to seek such resolution.

Davies told Business Report that his trip to Washington, which was scheduled for April 16, would be preceded by meetings between the South African Poultry Association and the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council.

“We need to find what the US Senators have called the sweet spot. The sweet spot is a level of imports from the US which is sustainable, which takes account of the realities of the need to grow the local poultry industry,” Davies told the newspaper, noting that the industry provided direct and indirect employment for 150 000 South Africans.

But Gaspard stressed that time was running out.  “When I head back to Washington in two weeks and our two governments sit down to discuss our trade and investment framework, we need to have an agreement on the table.”