Too much talk, too little action as SADC summit

MBABANE – Concerns were
raised around slow progress
in the implementation of
the Tripartite Free Trade
Agreement at the recent
Southern Africa Development
Community (SADC) heads
of state summit held in
Swaziland. Launched in Egypt
in 2015, the agreement is
intended to marry SADC trade
policies and initiatives and
border and customs reforms
with those of the East African
Community (EAC) and the
Common Market for Eastern
and Southern Africa (Comesa).
“We need time frames.
Signing agreements and
doing nothing about them is
what these SADC gatherings
seem all about,” one Southern
African businessman told
FTW off the record.
At a side-bar conference
the Southern Africa Business
Forum (SABF) resolved to
urge regional transportation
ministers to provide a
definitive assessment of
“the economic impact of
improved rail infrastructure
on regional trade,” as well as
a prioritised list of needs to
boost transportation corridor
development in the region.
Among the 350 delegates
from various countries who
would actually decide policy at
the meet, AIDS, drought and
energy issues took precedent
over transportation matters.
With regard to the energy
sector, SADC researchers
informed delegates that
southern Africa had fallen
behind other regional
economic communities in
Africa for access to electricity.
Only 24% of southern African
residents have such access,
compared to 36% of the
Eastern Africa Power Pool
area’s residents, and 44% of the
Western African Power Pool’s
residents.