India signs trade talks framework with Southern African Customs Union

India yesterday (12 August) signed terms of reference (ToR) with the five-member Southern African Customs Union (SACU) to launch negotiations for a preferential trade agreement (PTA), as New Delhi seeks tariff relief for exports including automobiles, pharmaceuticals and industrial machinery.

Speaking on the occasion, Indian Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said this was India's first ToR signing with the African region and noted SACU's significance as the oldest customs union in the world.

He said the PTA is envisaged to cover important chapters, including trade in goods and market access for goods, customs procedures and trade facilitation, trade remedies, including a bilateral safeguard mechanism, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade and dispute settlement.

Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal called for a balanced, fair and equitable trade agreement between India and SACU, emphasising that the partnership can help diversify markets and create opportunities for both sides to prosper.

Goyal said India can play an important role in supplying affordable medicines and supporting the development of new talent in the IT sector in the SACU region.

He said India can also help integrate SACU countries into global supply chains in areas where their businesses are competitive and where skills and talent can be developed or are already available.

Goyal underscored that the negotiations seek to provide preferential market access to an already established commercial relationship, with significant complementarities in engineering goods and machinery, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, textiles, agriculture and agri-processing.

He called upon the negotiating teams to proceed with urgency for the early finalisation of the India–SACU PTA.

Ndiitah Nghipondoka-Robiati, executive director of Namibia's Ministry of International Relations and Trade, welcomed the signing of the ToR as an important milestone in formalising SACU–India engagement and providing structure, transparency and predictability to the forthcoming negotiations.

Highlighting India's importance as a strategic partner and a pillar of South–South cooperation, she said SACU attaches real importance to an outcome that is balanced and takes into account the different levels of development between the two sides, particularly the interests and development needs of SACU member countries, including its least developed countries and small and vulnerable economies.

India's exports to SACU totalled $7.5 billion in FY2025-26, while imports stood at $9.2 billion. SACU comprises South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini. Among the SACU members, South Africa is India's largest trading partner.