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Trade pact to be implemented by April

    JOHANNESBURG

    The Southern African Development Community (SADC) says that the free trade protocol for the region will be implemented by April.

    SADC interim executive secretary Preg Ramsamy told journalists in the Botswana capital, Gaborone on Wednesday that Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe had all ratified the agreement. Zambia and Angola have not ratified the agreement. He said that because only a two-thirds majority was needed for the agreement to be binding on all 14 member SADC states, “the protocol will go ahead whether Angola and Zambia ratify it or not.”

    “We believe that the trade protocol is the linchpin of regional integration. What remains now is for the secretariat to notify the member states that the protocol has been ratified by the required number of countries,” Ramsamy 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

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