South Africa's Trade Minister Rob Davies said, when announcing that a deal had been struck, that 32,000 jobs depended on Agoa. South African and U.S. diplomats - advised by veterinarians from both sides - forged agreements on outstanding matters concerning various diseases affecting meats imported from the United States, including salmonella and avian flu. At stake is South Africa's membership of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a US program created to help African exporters.
Poultry imports had been a contentious issue during the negotiations, but the two governments were able to reconcile their positions.
After missed deadlines and extended talks, the Agoa deal dispute between South Africa and the United States governments has finally been resolved and put to bed. "South Africa imports from over 3000 establishments across the world, and the testing requirements apply to all these establishments", the department said.
The BBC's Karen Allen in Johannesburg said this was worth more than $170m (£117m) a year to South African farmers exporting citrus fruits, wine and nuts.
South Africa has allowed virtually no USA chicken, pork or beef imports into the local market for several years, partly through anti-dumping duties and partly through health restrictions.
The US asked South Africa "to reconsider its application of the Procedure Manual on Microbial Monitoring of Imported Meat". Health authorities from the two nations met on Wednesday to reach a deal before the US cancels South Africa's duty-free access on farming goods.
The agreement came six days after the December 31 deadline set by US President Barack Obama for SA to remove all obstacles to US exports of beef, pork and poultry, failing which he would order the selective withdrawal of tariff-free access for specified agricultural products under Agoa. South Africa's total exports amount to 70 billion rand (4.5 billion dollars) and of these, 25 million rand (about 1.6 billion dollars) are to the USA market. "The U.S.is becoming an increasingly important market for South African agricultural goods".
