1. Home
  2. Southern Africa
  3. Angola

SADC free trade agreement possible

Despite political and economic obstacles, South Africa’s Trade Minister Alec Erwin said on Tuesday he was confident the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) would be able to establish the framework for a free trade zone next year. In remarks to an international trade conference in Cape Town, Erwin also said Southern Africa would also have to consider the creation of a currency union if the SADC region truly wanted to develop its full economic potential. SADC members are South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Malawi, Mauritius,Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Seychelles. He said the free trade agreement, which envisages an eight-year tariff reduction scheme, had been approved in principle, but that the terms of phasing down tariffs were still being negotiated. Erwin described the current SADC inter-country payment system as ineffective and expensive, and said it was an obstacle to regional development. “If we are serious about economic integration some form of currency and payments system unification is going to have to come,” he said. The new free trade zone, he added, would create a market of more than 140 million people. “This region has basic potential that is almost unsurpassed. We are probably the most concentrated area of natural resources in the world. There is virtually no mineral of any importance that is not mined in the region,” he said.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

Share this article

Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

Become a member of The New Humanitarian

Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

Join