What Is The SADC Trade Agreement All About?
The objectives of the SADC trade agreement are to:
- Further liberalise intra-regional trade in goods and services on the basis of fair, mutually equitable and beneficial trade arrangements, complemented by Protocols in other areas
- Ensure efficient production within SADC reflecting the current and dynamic comparative advantages of its Members
- Contribute towards the improvement of the climate for domestic, cross-border and foreign investment
- Enhance the economic development, diversification and industrialisation of the Region
- Establish a Free Trade Area in the SADC Region.
More specifically, the agreement aims to:
- Eliminate barriers to intra-SADC trade
- Eliminate import duties based on a phased approach
- Eliminate all export duties
- Eliminate non-tariff barriers
- Apply no new quantitative import restrictions
- Eliminate quantitative export restrictions