The Sunday Mail
The Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP), which was scheduled for possible adoption at the 34th Sadc Heads of State and Government Summit opening here today, will be further revised to ensure trade liberalisation and industrial development run concurrently.
Special focus will now turn to industrial development and market integration; infrastructure development, peace and security and social programmes, all pillars identified as priorities in the plan’s roll-out.
The Sadc Council of Ministers took these decisions at the end of its two-day meeting here on Friday.
The Council — in a communique yesterday — said the Sadc Secretariat should finalise the draft RISDP by “frontloading” industrialisation and its implementation strategy.
It also tasked the Secretariat to develop a budget for the revised plan and table it alongside the implementation strategy when the ministers meet in March 2015.
In addition, the Council requested the Committee of Trade Ministers to review the sequencing of targeted outputs on industrial development and trade liberalisation with a view to placing industrialisation at the centre of the current regional integration stage.
The RISDP, whose implementation began in 2005, aims to guide Sadc policies and programmes towards the long-term objective of sustainable regional socio-economic development.
It also outlines regional integration at three levels — the Free Trade Area; Customs Union and Common Market.
The Free Trade Area seeks to liberalise intra-regional trade in goods and services; ensure efficient production; cross-border and foreign investment as well as enhance economic development and industrialisation.
The Customs Union focuses on establishing common external tariffs and an external trade policy.
Under the Common Market, member states would remove all trade barriers among them, and allow for free movement of labour, capital and services.
Sadc leaders ordered a review of the RISDP to set appropriate implementation strategies, but latest discourse among member states centres on balancing trade liberalisation and industrial development.
Information gathered here indicates less industrialised countries want the two synchronised to avoid being overrun by bigger economies.
Sadc Executive Secretary Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax told journalists yesterday that industrialisation and trade liberation dominated the Council of Ministers’ meeting.
She said the RISDP would be circulated to member states for consideration before regional ministers meet in 2015.
The Council of Ministers also advocated equity, fairness and balance in intra-regional trade, and encouraged member states to implement sustainable economic policies through natural resource beneficiation and value addition.
It commended countries that have achieved the target of equal representation of women in political and decision-making positions, and have legislated against human trafficking.
Its communique reads in part: “Council endorsed the decisions taken by the Committee of Ministers of Trade to address some of the implementation challenges of the Free Trade Area; and directed the Secretariat to facilitate implementation of all pillars of the development implementation agenda. . .
“Council urged member states to steadily converge on the macroeconomic targets by implementing sustainable economic policies and diversifying their economies through value addition and beneficiation of natural resources.”
