ISDS Case Map
SADC
Southern Africa Development Cooperation
With regional wheels rolling to put in place the envisaged grand tripartite free trade area (FTA), questions have arisen about whether it would be viable and increase competitiveness.
The position taken by Namibia with regard to the signing of the Interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) is commendable and should be a guiding principle for further negotiating trade agreements between Africa and the rest of the world.
Negotiations for a new economic partnership agreement (EPA) between SADC members and the European Union appear to have been shelved with no fixed date for resumption of the protracted trade negotiations.
Before mid-year South Africa would host the next summit on the establishment of a Trilateral Free Trade Agreement (T-FTA) among the regional economic groupings of the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Negotiations for a tripartite free trade area (FTA), which would include 26 East and Southern African member states, were expected to begin by mid-year, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said on Tuesday.
Implementation challenges and barriers to trade liberalization currently dogging SADC's Free Trade Area (FTA) will continue to haunt member states in the implementation of an ambitious grand FTA encompassing COMESA, EAC and SADC.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has appealed to its members to increase intra-trade in Africa.
Critics want southern Africa to look at Latin America's Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) as an approach to achieving regional economic integration based on fulfilling basic human needs and the services that are required to meet them instead of trade liberalisation with the EU, within the BRICSA group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and now South Africa) or within the region itself.
As the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) continue to integrate their economies, countries are now subscribing to the block's trading area in order to attract investment.
South Africa is pushing ahead to secure a free trade agreement between the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for East African States (Comesa).
