Eighty per cent of the world’s trade is conducted through sea lanes spanning the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. If India, Brazil and South Africa take advantage of their unique geographic location to form a maritime highway, it will offer economic dividends and geostrategic benefits, according to an official of the South African department of foreign affairs.
"We are vigorously pursuing (the idea of) a maritime highway," Mr Jerry Matjila, deputy directorgeneral for Asia and the Middle East, said ahead of the meeting of the heads of government of India, Brazil and South Africa for the second IBSA summit in Pretoria on Wednesday.
IBSA is a trilateral initiative between India, Brazil and South Africa to promote South-South cooperation. The maritime highway is proposed to link ports in Brazil, South Africa and India. It will facilitate intra-IBSA trade and also make movement of cargo easier for other countries in the region and beyond. Other countries like Sri Lanka could join later. The idea, Mr Matjila explained, is that the maritime highway should be "anchored in IBSA".
"We hope the heads of government will bless it (proposal for maritime highway) at the summit," he said, adding that the bilateral negotiations between India and South Africa are at a "very advanced stage".
Also on the agenda is a joint shipping company to be floated by Indian and South African companies. It was mooted about three months ago and considerable progress has been made since then. "70 to 80 per cent of the work is completed," he said.
Mr Matjila said that the fastest growing inter-trade between any developing countries is in the IBSA. Trade has risen from $2 billion to $5 billion since IBSA was mooted in 2003. Today it is pegged at between $6 and $7 billion and is expected to increase to $10 billion in the next two years, he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment