S. Africa, U.S. close to solve meat trade dispute

South Africa and the U.S. are close to concluding talks to solve a dispute over the import of U.S. meat products, the South African presidency said Friday.

The remarks were made following a telephone conversation between President Jacob Zuma and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama.

The two leaders discussed several issues, including the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a U.S. trade act enacted in 2000 aimed at boosting trade with qualifying sub-Saharan countries, according to the presidency.

The U.S. earlier threatened to suspend duty-free access for all AGOA-eligible agricultural products from South Africa, such as wine, fruit juice and citrus fruits.

It accuses South Africa of blocking U.S. meat products including poultry, beef and pork.

South Africa banned U.S. poultry imports last December after an outbreak of bird flu.

But South Africa maintains that it has been making progress in implementing an agreement reached with U.S. in Paris in June.

At the Paris meeting, South Africa agreed to open its market to 65,000 tonnes of bone-in chicken pieces from the U.S..

South African Trade Minister Rob Davies has said the import would begin before the end of this year.

He says the prolonged process is a result of work by the two sides to set up necessary animal health protocols for the meat trade.

The suspension is scheduled to take effect in January 5, 2016, leaving time for talks to avoid that.

If taking effect, it would affect annual South African agricultural exports worth about 2.4 billion rand (about 174 million U.S. dollars). Enditem