OWN CORRESPONDENT, Gabarone | Monday 12.30am.
TRADE officals from the 14 member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meet in Gabarone Monday to thrash out a regional free trade plan in advance of a trade ministers’ meeting on Wednesday. SADC chief economist Chingo Mwila said Monday’s meeting in the Botswana capital will focus on the issue of tariff barriers.
A diplomat said Sunday that while agreement had been reached on services, tariffs on such items as autos, footwear and processed foodstuffs had still to be finalised.
“The member states are agreed on the main principles, but what are remaining are the finer points,” the diplomat said.
SADC trade ministers will meet here on Wednesday to put the finishing touches to the trade protocol, officials said.
South African Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin said last week that talks on the free trade agreement between countries in the southern half of Africa were “well down the track.”
Erwin said that some aspects of an agreement could be implemented by early 2000.
President Thabo Mbeki has said South Africa’s parliament would ratify the SADC Trade Protocol in time for its implementation by January 1.
Erwin told reporters, however, that the road ahead was fraught with difficulties, given the growing trade imbalances that exist between the 14 SADC states. — AFP