Le Mozambique consulte le secteur privé sur le développement de la SADC
Mozambique has begun a massive consultation campaign with the private sector including the civil society in a bid to identify activities and grey areas for development by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), sources told APA here Monday.
International relations director in the foreign affairs ministry, Cerina Mussa, told reporters in Maputo that a similar action was being undertaken in all member-states of the SADC.
The aim is to enable Southern African countries to rid off political and economic difficulties and a reduced debt burden by 2015.
Heavy indebtedness is particularly believed to be contributing to the slow flow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the countries of the region.
SADC, which has the potential to become one of the fastest markets in the world, has struggled to attract foreign investment crucial to kick-start economic growth, Mussa said.
The SADC is eager to solve this by widening the region’s market potential by implementing a free-trade accord and move towards a harmonised monetary area that would encourage growth, she explained.
“For example, Mozambique has a bilateral agreement with Malawi and we know that maize produced in Tete (northern Mozambique) is consumed in Malawi and we can take advantage of that because Malawi does not have the production conditions we have in terms of land extension,” she said.
Mussa explained that consultations underway are also aimed at seeking ways of curbing the illegal trade of crops within Mozambique’s neighbours including Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania and make these deals more formal.
SADC is planning establish a Free Trade Zone by 2008, Customs Unions by 2010 and a Common Market by 2015, as well as a common currency billed for 2018.
The 14-member SADC comprises Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, Tanzania, DR Congo, Namibia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Madagascar, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
