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SADC free trade summit

    ABIDJAN

    Presidents of the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) will gather in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, at the weekend for a two-day summit expected to give the go-ahead for a free trade area.

    South African news reports quoted Prega Ramsamy, the group’s acting executive secretary, as saying that the free trade area would be the “linchpin of regional cooperation”. He said the SADC trade protocol would be launched on 1 September. The 10 SADC nations which had already ratified it are Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. He said they would phase out tariff barriers for regional trade over the next eight years.

    “When we compete regionally, we will improve standards, market access and quality and this enables us to compete on the world market,” Ramsamy was quoted as saying. Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Seychelles were still to sign the protocol, while Zambia had signed, but was yet to ratify it.

    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

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