ABSTRACT
In 1994 the European Union (EU) institutionalised a political dialogue with South Africa and the other regional Southern African Development Community member states trying to convince them of the merits of "open regionalism" versus collectively determined regional development. Opening up regions for the EU's non-agricultural goods and services is one objective the EU follows up in both bilateral and World Trade Organisation negotiations. During the second half of the 1980s, South Africa's industrial policy attempted to shift from import substitution to export orientation and liberalised trade. South Africa's robust growth performance in manufacturing reached its peak between 1960-1965 with an average Gross Domestic Product growth rate of 6,3 percent, a value added growth in manufacturing of 9,9 percent and an employment growth rate in manufacturing of almost 7 percent. In New Partnership for Africa's Development South Africa plays the intermediary offering to help open up Africa's markets to global corporations.
