Agence France Presse
WINDHOEK, July 31 (AFP) - Presidents of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) are expected to give the go-ahead for a regional free trade area during a summit in the Namibian capital on August 6 and 7, the group's acting executive secretary said Monday.
Prega Ramsamy told journalists the free trade area would be the "linchpin of regional cooperation" among the group's 200 million people.
A SADC trade protocol laying the basis for the free trade area will be launched on September 1, he said, and the 10 SADC member states which had ratified it would phase out tariff barriers for intra-SADC trade over the next eight years.
"The main feature of the protocol is that the SADC free trade area will be a reality in 2008," Ramsamy said.
He said the free trade area would enable SADC "to prepare ourselves to compete globally."
"When we compete regionally we will improve standards, market access and quality and this enables us to compete on the world market," Ramsamy added.
The trade protocol envisages that 85 percent of SADC trade will be liberalised by 2008, while the remaining 15 percent -- concerning "sensitive products" -- will be tariff-free by 2012.
Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Seychelles have yet to sign the trade protocol while Zambia has signed it but not yet ratified it. Ramsamy said that Angola was not in a position to sign the protocol because of the civil war there, while the DRC and Seychelles were new members of the grouping who were expected to accede to the protocol "when they are ready."
Zambia had expressed concern about the trade protocol's stipulations on the textile trade but these had now been resolved and Lusaka was expected to ratify it soon, Ramsamy said.
The other member states, which have ratified the protocol, are Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
The acting SADC chief also said the summit, which starts on Friday with a council of ministers meeting, would review the operations of SADC institutions with a view to restructuring them.
However, he would not comment on reports that the SADC organ on defence and security, previously seen as a power base for its chairman, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, would be disbanded.
Ramsamy said heads of state due to arrive in Windhoek next Saturday for the summit would discuss regional conflicts in the DRC and Angola, but he could not say if any specific proposals aimed at ending the wars would be on the table.:
