SADC to open Free Trade Area in 2008

SADC Council of Ministers Chairperson Kabinga Pande said this follows the review of progress towards the unveiling of the SADC FTA.

Addressing the Post Extraordinary Council of Ministers on Saturday Pande said, the SADC Ministerial Taskforce has since received the Draft Roadmap aimed at establishing the Customs Union.

Pande said the resolve of the SADC governments to open the SADC FTA in 2008 will remain unshaken as SADC has reaffirmed its commitment to the set milestones for the establishment of a SADC Customs Union.

He said the Extra Ordinary Council of Ministers also dealt with issues aimed at adjusting and realigning the structure of the SADC Secretariat to the prioritised SADC programme of action based on its Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan and the Strategic Plan of the organ of politics, defence and security Cooperation.

Pande, who is also Foreign Affairs Minister, said the council further reviewed the report of the Executive Secretary on the Job Evaluation and approved the establishment of a second position of the Deputy Executive Secretary.

He said this will mean that there shall be two Deputy Executive Secretaries one for programmes and the other for support services as well as the creation of a position of the Director for Finance and Administration.

Pande said the council also instructed the Secretariat to develop an implementation plan that shall include among others, the recruitment process and adherence to the quota based recruitment system and equitable gender staff representation.

The council also considered the report of the Officials Task Force it had tasked to review the operations of SADC integrated Committee of Ministers (ICM).

At the same function, SADC Executive Secretary Dr Tomaz Salomao said SADC will work flat-out to ensure that it channels all its efforts towards infrastructure development in the SADC region.

Dr Tomaz said SADC will take advantage of the support the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) is receiving from the European Union to further strengthen modalities aimed at developing infrastructure in the Southern African Region.

SADC has been in existence since 1980, when it was formed as a loose alliance of nine majority-ruled states in southern Africa known as the SADCC, with the main aim of co-ordinating development projects in order to lessen economic dependence on the then apartheid South Africa.

The founding member states are Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It was formed in Lusaka, Zambia, on 1 April 1980, following the adoption of the Lusaka Declaration - Southern Africa: Towards Economic Liberation.

The transformation of the organisation from a Co-ordinating Conference into a Development Community (SADC) took place on 17 August 1992 in Windhoek, Namibia when the Declaration and Treaty was signed at the summit, giving the organisation a legal character.

The member states are Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. SADC headquarters are located in Gaborone, Botswana.

The SADC vision is one of a common future, a future in a regional community that will ensure economic well-being, improving standards of living and quality of life, freedom and social justice and peace and security for the peoples of Southern Africa.

This shared vision is anchored on the common values and principles and the historical and cultural affinities that exist between the peoples of southern Africa.

Article published courtesy of BuaNews