Southern Africa: Govt to Decide on Comesa, SADC Trading Bloc
The Herald (Harare), 6 November 2007
The Government will stand guided by the industry and relevant stakeholders on whether to join the Southern African Development Community or the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Customs Union, an official said on Friday.
Currently, Zimbabwe and a number of other countries in the region are members of both regional blocs but a heads of state meeting held in Maseru, Lesotho, resolved that a country should be party to only one regional bloc. Such a development, the heads of state argued, would avoid conflict of interest especially with the imminent launch of the Sadc Customs Union in 2010 and the Comesa Customs Union set for next year. Director of international trade in the Ministry of Industry and International Trade Ms Beatrice Mutetwa said consultations were currently underway on which bloc to join. She said Zimbabwe had a lot to benefit from both blocs as they opened up new and lucrative markets.
She, however, said Comesa had more opportunities for Zimbabwe than Sadc due to its large markets. "At the moment," she said, "our trade is high in Comesa because the market is huge and lucrative while within Sadc, only South Africa is Zimbabwe's biggest trading partner." "However, any decision to choose whether the country should join Sadc or Comesa will be guided by the industry and a number of other factors." Ms Mutetwa was speaking at the fourth Shipping and Forwarding Agents Association of Zimbabwe annual conference in Harare.
She, however, added that Zimbabwe had all the capacity to withstand pressure in any international or regional market. "We boast one of the best human resource bases in Africa," she said. "Our infrastructure and products are second to none and are in great demand all over the region." urged the country, particularly the business sector, to be more aggressive when the regional markets are liberalised to enable the country to increase its exports and generate foreign currency. In a bid to boost regional trade and integration, Sadc and Comesa will soon relax trade laws by establishing customs unions that would remove customs duties and levies among member states.
