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.”
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.
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.
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.
29-Sep-2012
Three regional economic communities (Recs) have taken the lead as Africa seeks to remove trade barriers by 2017.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
7-Mar-2012
Strengthening bilateral trade and investment relations with African countries was a key trade and economic strategy for South Africa, Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies told the sixth Africa Economic Forum in Cape Town this week.
20-Nov-2011
First round of negotiations to establish the $1 trillion Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA) covering 27 countries in eastern and southern Africa are scheduled to start next month, the head of the taskforce spearheading the process has said.
5-Nov-2011
As South Africa moves to bolster industrialisation efforts within its own borders, the planned roll out of a giant free trade area across Africa may hit a snag when it comes to negotiating about trade in manufactured goods between member countries, the Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies said yesterday.
5-Nov-2011
African heads of state have ambitious plans to create a free trade zone, encompassing 26 countries and more than 600 million people on the continent. But economic experts warn the project is a bold step that comes with a plethora of legal, administrative and political hurdles. Others suggest the plan might be a pie in the sky.
25-Sep-2011
Intra-regional trade is really pathetic within the Southern African Development Community, says United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior Regional Agriculture Programme Manager Cecilia Kuphe.
16-Sep-2011
Xinhua
South Africa and the European Union said on Thursday that they will give priority to concluding the EU-Southern African Development Community Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations.
4-Sep-2011
The song of Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional integration is sung so loudly that even the deaf can hear it. But my recent experience in Windhoek, Namibia tends to prove that the reality on the ground does not match the rhetoric.
2-Sep-2011
It is not certain that an African free trade area will further regional integration or deepen the existing inequality between countries.
31-Aug-2011
IPS
Weariness surrounds the negotiations on an Economic Partnership Agreement regulating trade access between Southern Africa and the European Union.
9-Aug-2011
Mmegi Onlines
A market access regulation giving SADC states, including Botswana, duty and quota-free access to the European Union is expected to elapse soon, potentially squeezing the affected states out of the world’s biggest market for beef, minerals, textiles and other products.