From Africa Recovery, Vol.13#1 (June 1999), page 21 (box within article on EU-South Africa trade)

SADC pushing toward free-trade area

Trade ministers of 11 Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states are set to meet in Gaborone, Botswana, in early July to conclude talks on the schedule for liberalizing tariff and non-tariff barriers among their countries. "We've made substantial progress and I personally am looking forward to ratification of the free-trade protocol by October this year at the latest," Mr. Prega Ramsamy, SADC Deputy Executive Secretary, said recently. The trade protocol must be ratified by two-thirds of SADC members in order to begin phasing in the free-trade area over an eight-year period from 1 January 2000.

Significant progress already has been made since negotiations began last year. The 11 SADC members participating in the initiative have agreed not to raise tariff barriers beyond mid-1998 levels. The remaining three SADC members -- Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Seychelles -- have not been participating in the talks, but may opt to join an agreed free-trade area at a later date. SADC members hope that a free-trade area will help the region attract more foreign capital and technology, create new jobs and boost the region's gross domestic product.

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