Come on board FTA, Salomao urges states
Southern Times, Namibia
Come on board FTA, Salomao urges states
By Charles Tjatindi
10 August 2010
WINDHOEK - Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community, Dr Tomaz Salomao, has urged SADC member states who are still to join the Free Trade Area to come on board.
Salomao made the statement in a briefing with the media here on Monday ahead of the 30th jubilee summit of SADC heads of state and government summit which is scheduled for 16 and 17 August in the Namibian capital.
The SADC Executive secretary said the SADC FTA will not be successful unless four SADC members states - Angola, DRC, Malawi and Seychelles - who still have to join the pack, come on board.
The FTA is part of the SADC regional integration programme that includes the establishment of the FTA by 2008, a Customs Union by 2010, a Common Market by 2015, a monetary Union by 2016 and a single currency by 2018.
Salomao said the envisioned SADC FTA would remain an elusive dream if only some of the member states are represented on it.
’We are hopeful that those countries who have not yet joined the pack will come on board to enable the SADC FTA to fulfill its mission of allowing free trade across the entire SADC region.’
Implementation of the SADC FTA began in 2000 following the signing of the SADC Trade Protocol (in 1996).
The liberilisation of tarrifs has taken place at different rates. In general the developed countries have reduced tariffs at a faster rate.
South Africa, Botswana and Namibia removed most tariffs in 2000. Middle income countries such as Mauritius have gradually reduced their tariffs each year between 2000 and 2008.
For least developed countries such as Mozambique and Zambia tariff reductions were introduced during 2007-2008.
Amongst the priority areas of the SADC FTA is to enable easier trade among member states by easing time spent at border posts through the establishment of one-stop border posts.
Currently three are pilots at the border of Mozambique and Zimbabwe (Forbes - Machipanda), South Africa and Mozambique (Lebombo Ressano Garcia) and Zimbabwe and Zambia (Chirundu).
The SADC FTA is envisioned to create a regional market worth US$360 billion with a total population of 170 million and includes economies growing by up to seven per cent a year.
Angola and Congo DRC - who are set to join the FTA soon - are expected to add a further US$71 billion and 77 million people to the SADC market.
