SADC’s free trade protocol difficult: researcher
SABC News, South Africa
SADC’s free trade protocol difficult: researcher
18 August 2006
Brendan Vicas, a senior researcher at the Institute for Global Dialogue, has warned that SADC’s free trade protocol will be difficult to implement. SADC member states have again been urged to renounce their membership of other regional economic groupings.
This is to give way for the smooth establishment of a Free Trade Area by 2008. Most Southern African states are currently affiliated to several regional trade blocs. Vicas says several factors will also impede the monitoring of the protocol.
"Weak infrastructure, I think things like human capital investiment, production platforms that continue to impede intra-SADC trade, complex things like rules of our region, which have been a problem, the elimination of non-tariff barriers. It’s generally a very hard protocol to monitor and implement."
