“South Africa’s ongoing negotiations with the European Union (EU) for a Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement have evoked immense interest, not only in Europe and Southern Africa, but also further afield, and at a level unprecedented for any other trade liberalisation accord which the Union has concluded with a third country. These talks are indeed seen as a reliable indication of the direction the imminent Lome re-negotiations will follow, a process which will radically restructure the EU’s relations with the developing world. The paper sketches the negotiations against the background of the wider historical as well as multilateral institutional perspective, and develops the link between South Africa and the rest of the developing world, specifically the ACP, as an essential element of the negotiations.”
