免税进入欧盟市场为斯威士兰纺织品注入希望

 

Duty–free EU market gives hope to Swaziland textiles

Swaziland is in the process of ratifying the EPA with the assistance of the EU. The EU's Southern African Development Community Co-ordinator Gijs Berends disclosed that once the EPA is ratified, the country will benefit through shipping its goods to the union without delay.
An EU delegation which is assisting Swaziland with the process of ratification, organised a workshop in the capital Mbabane on Friday where industry players were made aware of the benefits of the agreement.
Through the EPA, Berends said Swaziland would become more competitive and attractive to investors who would be looking at accessing the lucrative EU market.
“The EPA agreement will liberalise 9,600 products and all the products will enter our market duty-free. It has to be mentioned that this will not be just a temporary trade agreement but a permanent one. We are looking forward to seeing Swaziland becoming a beneficiary from the market as that would positively contribute to its economic development,” Berends said.
Swaziland's textile industry had taken a hit after it had excluded from the list of countries eligible to get benefit under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) of the US Government, with effect from January 1, 2015.
The decision to withdraw Swaziland's AGOA eligibility came after years of engaging with the Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland on concerns about its implementation of the AGOA eligibility criteria related to worker rights.

译文如下：

免税进入欧盟市场为斯威士兰纺织品注入希望

斯威士兰在欧盟的帮助下正在获得美国环保署的批准。欧盟的南非发展共同体协调员Gijs Berends透露,一旦环保署批准,该国将受益于其通过其货物运输至联盟而没有迟延。

一个协助斯威士兰的欧盟代表团参与批准的过程,周五在首都姆巴巴纳组织了一个研讨会，业内都知道该协议的好处。

通过EPA，Berends说，对于投资者来说，斯威士兰可以变得更有竞争力和更有吸引力，这些投资者着眼于有利可图的欧盟市场。

“EPA协议将自由化9600种产品，所有产品进入我们的市场都将免税。已经提到，这将不会是临时的贸易协议而是永久的。我们希望看到斯威士兰可以成为市场的受益人，因为这对其经济发展是有积极贡献的”，Berends说。

斯威士兰的纺织业

斯威士兰的纺织行业已经受到打击，在其被从可以根据美国政府发起的《非洲增长与机会法》(AGOA)而获益的国家资格列表中排除后,该法案于2015年1月1日起生效。

决定撤回斯威士兰的《非洲增长与机会法》资格是在斯威士兰王国政府担心其实现AGOA相关工人权利的合格标准之后。