According to SADC Executive Secretary Mr. Elias Magosi, promoting manufacturing through agro-processing and mineral beneficiation activities might boost business service development, eradicate poverty and inequality, and close the large wealth gap.
On the fringes of the 29th meeting of the Southern African Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE), which took place in Gaborone on November 8–9, he made this statement.
Mr. Magosi claimed this move will open doors for SMMEs, which account for the majority of newly created jobs. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which is a component of the larger continental integration agenda, will be implemented on a strong foundation provided by the SADC Free Trade Area, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East Africa Community, and the SADC tripartite agreements, he added. MSMEs would greatly benefit from these regional and continental trade agreements.
“The AfCFTA has been soundly embraced by our individual member states through signing into and ratification of this continental trade agreement. Indeed, the AfCFTA gives us hope that we will reach our sustainable industrialization goals,” he said.
Notably, Mr. Magosi claimed that poverty and inequality will be reduced by more manufacturing and deeper trade inside and outside of the African continent.
“From a SADC perspective, it has been the aim to push for regional integration including through creating and maintaining free trade that guaranteed free movement of goods, services and investments within the region.”
According to Mr. Magosi, this kind of unrestricted mobility would help the member states’ long-term development and prosperity.
He stated that the market integration outlined in the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plans of SADC was making headway in enhancing the region’s industrialization, economic expansion, and technological advancements on both a national and regional scale. He said that this was in line with both the AU’s Agenda 2063 and the UN’s Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goals.
Mr. Magosi restated SADC’s commitment to putting into practice each of the components encapsulated in the 2023 ICSOE theme.
In doing so, he said that they will keep collaborating with all partners who share their values in order to accomplish socioeconomic development objectives and ultimately eradicate poverty and injustice throughout the area.
In the meantime, Ms. Chileshe Kapwepwe, Secretary General of COMESA, stated that her organization was instrumental in laying out the tripartite FTA instruments that were incorporated into the AfCFTA framework.
She mentioned the online reporting and monitoring system, tariff liberalization offers, and origin rules. The tripartite’s three pillars—market integration, infrastructure development, and industrial/value chain—were essential for strengthening integration, according to her.