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SADC

Southern African nations push for European trade-deal extension
1-Apr-2014 Bloomberg
Southern African trade ministers will lobby for an extension of a trade agreement with Europe before it expires in October, a senior Botswana official said.
Tripartite FTA: Answer to poor intra-African trade
28-Mar-2014 Southern Times
African countries need to look at the possibility of fast-tracking the tripartite Free Trade Area if hopes of an improved intra-African trade are to be met anytime soon, according to the African Union Commission
Zuma says Eastern, Southern Africa moving toward Free Trade Area
3-Feb-2014 Bloomberg
Twenty-six eastern and southern African nations are making progress toward agreeing on a free trade area that will create a market with nearly 600 million people and combined gross domestic product of $1 trillion, South African President Jacob Zuma said.
SACU: Dead man walking?
28-Jan-2014 Trade Beat
Late last year, the African cyberspace was buzzing with rumours that the region’s oldest trade agreement, the Southern African Customs Union or SACU was about to be finally killed off by South Africa. From Windhoek to Cape Town to Mbabane, trade policy wonks were debating what the most recent moves from Pretoria regarding SACU really meant.
Tripartite FTA soon a reality
17-Jan-2014 Southern Times
Three regional economic communities in Africa — COMESA, EAC and SADC — are expected to sign an agreement this year to establish an enlarged market covering 26 countries in eastern and southern Africa.
Protecting foreign investments in Sub-Saharan Africa: The SADC and its protocol on finance and investment
9-Jan-2014 Mondaq
The SADC protocol on investment provides rights to investors, including investor-state dispute settlement provisions, in southern Africa no matter what country they hail from. Thus, it goes way beyond typical bilateral investment treaties (BITs) while protecting foreign companies operating in SADC countries without BIT coverage.
Waiting for an FTA
31-Aug-2013
Southern Africa countries’ restrictive trade practices continue to undermine the potential gains of a regional free trade area (FTA).
Slow progress in Africa free trade talks
27-Aug-2013 Business Day
Negotiations between three trade blocs in Africa to create a free trade area were running behind schedule in terms of reaching their 2014 deadline but were nevertheless progressing, South Africa Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said last week.
Namibia and the Economic Partnership Agreement
16-Aug-2013 Pambazuka
Namibia’s principled refusal to get bullied into an agreement against what it considered its own best interests has served as an example for other countries originally more willing to give in to the pressure exerted by EU
SADC scrambles to meet EU trade deadline
22-May-2013 Mmegi
Trade ministers from SADC member states met in Gaborone yesterday as part of efforts to thrash out a new inclusive Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union ahead of next year’s deadline.
Writing the Struggle - EPAs: The European game is over, comrades
7-May-2013
The current episode between some African countries and European Union over the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) proves to a great extent what Franz Fanon talks about when he says: “The new day which is already at hand must find us firm, prudent and resolute.”
Call to speed up African Tripartite FTA negotiations
12-Mar-2013 Tax News
The Government of Zambia has called on the three African regional economic communities (RECs) — the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) — to speed up their free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations.
Experts support Uganda’s decision to join COMESA FTA
21-Nov-2012
Economic experts have supported the recent decision taken by the government of Uganda to join the COMESA FTA, saying it would increase the volume of Ugandan exports to the COMESA FTA and promote the country’s economic growth.
EPAs: Why we must be cautious
16-Nov-2012
A series of meetings involving senior officials and experts from Southern Africa and the European Union are scheduled before the end of the year as the parties attempt to finalise a full Economic Partnership Agreement.
Regional blocs seek to remove trade barriers
29-Sep-2012
Three regional economic communities (Recs) have taken the lead as Africa seeks to remove trade barriers by 2017.
SADC free trade agreement coming soon: Davies
10-Sep-2012
An agreement to lower barriers to trade and improve cross-border commerce in the SADC should be implemented this year, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies says.
SADC moving forward on model bilateral investment treaty template
7-Aug-2012 UNCTAD
Investment policy makers and investment treaty negotiators from the 15-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) convened in Pretoria, South Africa recently to engage in clause by clause in-depth discussions of the draft SADC Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) Template and Commentary.
EPAs dividing SADC region - official
10-Jun-2012
Southern African Development Community (SADC) integration is compounded by the ongoing Economic Partnership Agreements’ (EPAs) trade negotiations between the European Union (EU), a SADC official said on Wednesday.
African trade: Integration of economic blocs into a global player
29-May-2012
Plans to create an African free trade area (FTA) by integrating three existing African trade blocs consisting of 26 countries by July 2014 are gaining momentum. The aim is to create a free market of 525 million people with an output of US$1 trillion making it a global player.
Free trade bloc planned for Africa
21-May-2012
Plans to create a 26-nation free trade area by integrating three existing African trade blocs by July 2014 are on track and the only major sticking point is likely to be harmonising rules of origin, the three blocs said on Friday.