Zimbabwe joins SADC free trade area

Zimbabwe will formalise its membership of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Trade Protocol this month, news reports said on Monday. Secretary of the Industry and International Trade Ministry Stuart Comberbach told the Zimbabwe News Agency (ZIANA) that the government had now completed putting in place the necessary controls to enable Zimbabwe to join the regional free trade area launched last September. “There are administrative processes that still need to be fulfilled such as printing of the Zimbabwe-SADC tariff rates and gazetting them to effect the participation by our business community,” he said. “Given the experience we had with the general tariff review exercise, effective implementation will take a few more weeks,” he said. Under the SADC Trade Protocol, 85 percent of the regional trade would be free of tariffs within eight years. Meanwhile, Zambian Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister David Mpamba said that Zambia had ratified the SADC free trade agreement and will implement it by 5 March.