Nam not ready for African FTA
Trade experts have warned that Namibia and other SADC countries are not ready to sign an African free trade agreement.
Stakeholders present at the national consultation on the proposed African Continent Free Trade Area (CFTA) say Namibia is not ready to engage in this initiative.
A one-day consultation was held in Windhoek on Tuesday where various trade unions, faith-based organisations, academics, youth groups, government officials and the private sector deliberated on the developmental impact of the CFTA on people in Namibia in particular and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in general.
Sylvester Wullo Bagooro from the Third World Network-Africa, who was a guest speaker, cautioned the participants on the negative impact of the deadline on which they will have to approve the content of agreement, which is December 2017.
Some other issues brought forward by Bagooro are the exclusionary nature of the consultation process, which according to him omitted, among others, civil society, the private sector and academia.
The programme coordinator for the Economic Justice Network, Simon Vilakazi, supported Bagooro on the exclusionary nature of the consultations, saying that civil society and ordinary people were inadequately informed about CFTA issues and yet they were not immune to the effects of the decisions taken by those in authority.
African countries, according to Bagooro, have been liberalising for a period of time under the WTO, structural adjustment, EPAs, regional economic communities without an improvement in the welfare benefits for the people as this forms part of the liberalisation agenda.
One aspect for consideration in this regard is the fact that some SADC countries have asked for derogations after the SADC FTA was launched in 2009, saying it was not working for them.
Zimbabwe promulgated a statutory instrument last year closing its borders to spur local production while Malawi asked for derogations, saying they could not implement the FTA to the expected and agreed level.
These, according to Bagooro, are some of the concerns emanating from the SADC FTA forum which are a clear indication that more consultations were needed in terms of moving forward with the CFTA.
Cementing Bagooro's doubts regarding the due date of the CFTA was a trade negotiations coordinator at the Southern African Customs Union, Albertina Hitiwa, who said only 20% of the content of the agreement had been completed, with less than three months left to the due date.
The SADC FTA was established in August 2008, after the implementation of the SADC Protocol on Trade in 2000 laid the foundation for its formation.
NAMPA
A one-day consultation was held in Windhoek on Tuesday where various trade unions, faith-based organisations, academics, youth groups, government officials and the private sector deliberated on the developmental impact of the CFTA on people in Namibia in particular and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in general.
Sylvester Wullo Bagooro from the Third World Network-Africa, who was a guest speaker, cautioned the participants on the negative impact of the deadline on which they will have to approve the content of agreement, which is December 2017.
Some other issues brought forward by Bagooro are the exclusionary nature of the consultation process, which according to him omitted, among others, civil society, the private sector and academia.
The programme coordinator for the Economic Justice Network, Simon Vilakazi, supported Bagooro on the exclusionary nature of the consultations, saying that civil society and ordinary people were inadequately informed about CFTA issues and yet they were not immune to the effects of the decisions taken by those in authority.
African countries, according to Bagooro, have been liberalising for a period of time under the WTO, structural adjustment, EPAs, regional economic communities without an improvement in the welfare benefits for the people as this forms part of the liberalisation agenda.
One aspect for consideration in this regard is the fact that some SADC countries have asked for derogations after the SADC FTA was launched in 2009, saying it was not working for them.
Zimbabwe promulgated a statutory instrument last year closing its borders to spur local production while Malawi asked for derogations, saying they could not implement the FTA to the expected and agreed level.
These, according to Bagooro, are some of the concerns emanating from the SADC FTA forum which are a clear indication that more consultations were needed in terms of moving forward with the CFTA.
Cementing Bagooro's doubts regarding the due date of the CFTA was a trade negotiations coordinator at the Southern African Customs Union, Albertina Hitiwa, who said only 20% of the content of the agreement had been completed, with less than three months left to the due date.
The SADC FTA was established in August 2008, after the implementation of the SADC Protocol on Trade in 2000 laid the foundation for its formation.
NAMPA
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