US embassy cable - 05PRETORIA1575

UNCLAS PRETORIA 001575 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR AF/S; AF/EPS; EB/TPP/MTA 
USDOC FOR 4510/ITA/IEP/ANESA/OA/JDIEMOND 
TREASURY FOR BRESNICK 
DEPT PASS USTR FOR PCOLEMAN, WJACKSON AND DDWOSKIN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, ECON, SF, WTO 
SUBJECT: WTO SERVICES NEGOTIATIONS: SOUTH AFRICA'S INITIAL 
OFFER 
 
REF:  (A) State 58384; (B) Pretoria 847 
 
(U)Sensitive but unclassified; not for Internet 
distribution. 
 
1.  (SBU) In response to reftel A points encouraging South 
Africa to submit a robust initial services offer, Sudhir 
Sooklal of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said 
that South Africa does intend to meet the May deadline for 
submitting its offer in Geneva. He noted that when DTI 
Minister Mpahlwa came back from a G20 meeting in New Delhi 
last month, he instructed his staff to set up a meeting with 
his cabinet colleagues to discuss the offer.  Unfortunately, 
they have not been able to get the meeting off the ground.  It 
was supposed to be this week, but could not take place because 
the Minister went to the DRC.  They hope the cabinet meeting 
will take place next week.  Once the cabinet is driving the 
process at the ministerial level, DTI expects to be able to 
move a lot quicker. 
 
2. (SBU) Sooklal noted DTI has been engaging the various 
departments continuously, almost on a daily basis, on the 
sectors we raised.  "It's a work in progress," he said.  They 
are still waiting for the other departments to come back to 
DTI with what they are willing to put on the table. That 
process is complete as far as Treasury is concerned (i.e., 
financial services, also noted in ref B). As soon as the other 
departments have signed off on the offer, DTI plans to put the 
offer in the required format and table it in Geneva.  He 
reiterated that the Minister is aware of urgency of it, which 
why he wants the meeting with cabinet colleagues to discuss 
the specific issues. 
 
3. (SBU) Sooklal did note a bit of a problem with the 
telecommunications services sector because of the new 
convergence bill that is going through Parliament. He said 
they were somewhat reluctant to make an offer until the bill 
becomes an Act.   He said the convergence bill would totally 
transform the entire ICT sector. Even with that constraint, 
however, he was optimistic that South Africa would still be 
able to put something down. 
 
FRAZER