ISDS Case Map
SACU
Southern Africa Customs Union
Trade and finance ministers of the five-nation Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) will meet in Botswana tomorrow to discuss deeper regional integration and challenges like the pending trade agreement with the European Union.
India is working on signing a Preferential Trade agreement (PTA) with South Africa Customs Union (SACU), a regional sub-group of African nations comprising South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.
Sacu trade ministers meet in Gaborone with European Commission trade head Peter Mandelson tomorrow in a bid to break a stalemate over the economic partnership agreement the region is negotiating with the European Union. Mooted as an opportunity to harmonise the region's trade arrangements with its biggest trading partner and deepen regional integration, the EPA has achieved the opposite. It has divided the region and is threatening to split it permanently.
The future of the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) hangs in the balance, even as engagement takes place at the highest political level to save the world's oldest customs union from collapsing.
Korea is considering a free trade pact with the the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) to expand cooperative ties with resource-rich countries
Bilateral trade agreement with Asean and European Union are passe. The stage is set for the first trans-continental treaty with India, South Africa and Mercosur -- comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay -- launching negotiations on a preferential trade agreement later this week.India will also start technical negotiations on Saturday for a PTA with the Southern African Customs Union, which consists of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland.
With the partner states of the East African Community having agreed to negotiate an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe under one roof, Tanzania may be forced to count the cost of forgoing a relatively successful regional grouping in East Africa against political solidarity with Southern Africa's regional power base -- South Africa.
What does the “grand debate” about a United States of Africa have to do with the fate of SA's provinces?
SA and the rest of southern Africa needed to rationalise trade blocs to allow for stronger and larger regional economic communities, said Finance Minister Trevor Manuel yesterday.
Indian interest in the South African economy is growing apace. Planned investments by Indian companies in SA over the coming years reportedly add up to billions of rands.
