The Sunday Mail
Leroy Dzenga
The Southern African Development Community (Sadc) has decried delays by member states in ratifying a trade protocol meant to smoothen trade within the region.
In 2019, during the 39th Sadc Summit, countries through their heads of states agreed that there was a need for deliberate policy harmonisation to promote modernisation of regional industry and regional integration.
A recent review meeting between ministers of industries from different countries showed that there has been slow progress by countries in signing and ratifying the Sadc Protocol on Industry.
In a statement, the regional bloc said although the initial agreement received widespread support, the follow-up work has not been encouraging.
“The Sadc Protocol on Industry was approved by the 39th Sadc Summit in August 2019 in Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania and seeks to strengthen the economies of Member States to ensure that they are driven by industrial development.
As of July 2021, the Protocol had been signed by 13 Heads of States and Government and ratified only by Seychelles. The Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and Zambia are the three Member States who are yet to sign the Protocol,” Sadc wrote.
The protocol is viewed by experts as a solution to the region`s subdued manufacturing sector, which contributes to a paltry 12 percent of the regional gross domestic product.
“In order to realise the targeted long-term development objectives, Sadc Member States will have to address the slow progress in ratifying the Protocol on Industry; and delays in the operationalisation of the Sadc Regional Development Fund (RDF) in order to facilitate mobilisation of meaningful resources to support regional value chains, mineral beneficiation and other industrial projects in the Region that require large-scale investments,” Sadc wrote.
The reduced enthusiasm in adopting the Industry Protocol is a symptom of skepticism within the region in embracing a wide market that goes beyond individual borders.
So far, of the 16 member states, 10 are yet to ratify the Africa Free Trade Continental Area.
Only Zimbabwe, Angola, Eswatini, Namibia, Mauritius and South Africa have ratified the agreement which kicked into effect at the beginning of this year.
Ironically, Mozambique, which chaired the recent Industry Protocol review meeting, is yet to ratify the AFCTA.
