Europe, SADC consider new EPA regime
With the complex EPA between EU and SADC-member states now in effect, the next step is getting industry players familiar with the new rules.
Implementation of SADC''s long-negotiated Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) formed part of discussions between the parties on Thursday.
The agreement went into effect on 10 October, effectively giving SADC countries duty-free, quota-free access to the European market, while gradually opening their own markets to more EU exports.
At a press briefing in Windhoek on Thursday the EU delegation head of cooperation, Markus Theobald, urged the Namibian government to improve awareness among industry players of the new trade rules.
Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland are the five SADC countries currently subject to the agreement, while Mozambique still has to ratify it. Angola has observer status and may join the agreement in the future.
According to the EU delegation, the agreement takes into account the SADC countries'' different levels of development, while providing protective measures for protecting nascent, fragile industries, as well as making provision for food-security concerns.
“The agreement that we''re putting in place will support sustainable economic growth and regional integration in southern Africa, and is designed to help life people out of poverty in the years to come,” EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström said in a statement preceding Thursday''s meeting.
“Africa is the emerging continent and the EPA has been designed to maximise this dynamism,” she said.
Total trade between the EU and the SADC EPA group, including Angola, amounts to 63 billion euros (N$964 billion).
In 2015, the EU imported goods worth about 32 billion euros (N$490 billion) from the region, mainly minerals and metals.
It exported goods worth roughly the same to SADC, mainly in the form of engineering, automotive and chemical products.
DENVER ISAACS
The agreement went into effect on 10 October, effectively giving SADC countries duty-free, quota-free access to the European market, while gradually opening their own markets to more EU exports.
At a press briefing in Windhoek on Thursday the EU delegation head of cooperation, Markus Theobald, urged the Namibian government to improve awareness among industry players of the new trade rules.
Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland are the five SADC countries currently subject to the agreement, while Mozambique still has to ratify it. Angola has observer status and may join the agreement in the future.
According to the EU delegation, the agreement takes into account the SADC countries'' different levels of development, while providing protective measures for protecting nascent, fragile industries, as well as making provision for food-security concerns.
“The agreement that we''re putting in place will support sustainable economic growth and regional integration in southern Africa, and is designed to help life people out of poverty in the years to come,” EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström said in a statement preceding Thursday''s meeting.
“Africa is the emerging continent and the EPA has been designed to maximise this dynamism,” she said.
Total trade between the EU and the SADC EPA group, including Angola, amounts to 63 billion euros (N$964 billion).
In 2015, the EU imported goods worth about 32 billion euros (N$490 billion) from the region, mainly minerals and metals.
It exported goods worth roughly the same to SADC, mainly in the form of engineering, automotive and chemical products.
DENVER ISAACS
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