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SADC, EU reach agreement on EPA
Southern African Development Community (SADC) and European Union (EU) negotiators have concluded the first phase of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
EU agrees trade deals with Africa
The European Commission and four states in southern Africa — Botswana, Mozambique, Swaziland and Lesotho — have reached a new trade deal. South Africa and Namibia "will determine their participation in the agreement in the coming days," the Commission said. Madan Murlidhar Dulloo, foreign minister of Mauritius, accused the EU of "divide and rule".
Southern African free trade zone to come up next year
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has said that a free trade agreement (FTA) for the region will be concluded next year as scheduled.
Response to the letter “This is not a poker game” by Messrs Peter Mandelson and Louis Michel in The Guardian of 31 October 2007
You are right that this should not be a poker game. Maybe it’s time for reflection so you could realize who is actually playing poker with the livelihoods you are trying to help, writes Wallie Roux.
SAfrica won’t ’roll over’ on services trade with EU
The European Union needs to scale down its ambitions for accessing the service sector in southern Africa as it negotiates an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the region, said South Africa’s deputy trade minister Rob Davies.
Roux still in limbo
The fate of the Meatco researcher, who got suspended for expressing a sceptical opinion on the EU-SADC Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations in May, is yet to be decided.
South Africa: SA ’not in a hurry’ to sign EPA, says EU
As the December deadline for the signing of a European Union Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) member countries fast approaches without any sign of the deal being closed by then, European Union (EU) representatives in SA are growing frustrated and accuse Pretoria of procrastination over the negotiation.
EU-SADC EPA: Frustration between EU and SA boils to the surface as trade deadline looms
Frustration is mounting in relations between the European Union and South Africa, in particular, in negotiations for an economic partnership agreement between the EU and the so-called Southern African Development Community group, comprising Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Tanzania will rue the cost of starting with SADC
With the partner states of the East African Community having agreed to negotiate an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe under one roof, Tanzania may be forced to count the cost of forgoing a relatively successful regional grouping in East Africa against political solidarity with Southern Africa’s regional power base — South Africa.
Lesotho wants free trade area by 2008, customs union by 2010
President Pakalitha Mosisili of Lesotho called on member states of SADC to address their obligations to ensure that the region realises the Free Trade Area by 2008 and a Customs Union by 2010, in preparation for the creation of a Common Market by 2015 and a common currency by 2018.
Multilateral still better than bilateral talks
"When we try to negotiate as individual countries, we give the Europeans the ammunition to divide and discriminate against us", said Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity Bright Matonga.
Guiding ourselves by the African stars
What does the “grand debate” about a United States of Africa have to do with the fate of SA’s provinces?
Southern Africa: EU official ’creating rift’
A top European Union official has been seeking to create divisions between South Africa and its neighbours in talks aimed at establishing a free trade deal, African diplomats have alleged.
Trade talk deadline closer, but EU and SADC far apart
Trade negotiations between Southern Africa and the European Union are progressing slowly and some sectors might not even be agreed on by the end of the year, when the signing of the trade agreement is to take place.
Africa ‘must rationalise on trade blocs’
SA and the rest of southern Africa needed to rationalise trade blocs to allow for stronger and larger regional economic communities, said Finance Minister Trevor Manuel yesterday.
SADC ministers to review progress
Namibia will, as from tomorrow, host the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Integrated Committee of Ministers (ICM) meeting.
Africans speak out against EPAs as unwelcome
When European campaigners suggest that a free trade deal could harm the poor, they typically encounter a frosty reaction from civil servants in Brussels. Still, no one tries to muzzle them.
Zambia to Host SADC Meeting
The Government has announced that Zambia will this year host the 27th Southern African Development Community (SADC) ordinary summit of Heads of State at which President Mwanawasa will assume the chair of the grouping.
SADC and Comesa move closer on trade deals
Three African trade blocs from southern and East Africa are moving closer to align and harmonise trade rules for increased integration, a conference resolved on Monday.