Page 56 - 40th Summit Brochure 2020

intra-company transfers by existing in- regional dif erences are even more signif -
vestors, investment to the country was led cant when looking at specif c categories
by merger and acquisition deals in business such as ICT adoption, Skills and Financial
services and petroleum ref ning. Systems where SADC ranked higher than
T e World Bank Doing Business Report other regions.
2019 shows that a total of f ve SADC Mem- SADC is developing a SADC Business
ber States were ranked within the f rst 100 and Investment Promotion Strategy (BIPS).
bracket for the past two years (Mauritius, T e SADC BIPS will allow the region to ex-
South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Sey- plore opportunities to showcase its pro-
chelles). In addition, the report show that a grammes and regional projects to various
total of eight Member States improved their key decision-makers from around the world
rankings in 2019 -- Angola, DRC, Madagas- who are willing to engage in sustainable
car, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Zambia partnerships. Furthermore, the joint meet-
and Zimbabwe. ing of the Trade Negotiation Forum and the
In addition, the World Bank indicated Investment Subcommittee at Victoria Falls,
that reforms inspired by the Doing Business Zimbabwe in July 2019, f nalised the SADC
Report have been implemented by economies Regional Investment Policy Framework and
around the world. Within the SADC region the SADC Model Bilateral Investment
for example, 31 reforms were implemented by Treaty for consideration and approval by the
15 Member States in 2018 and 22 reforms by Ministerial Task Force on Regional Eco-
nine Member States in 2020. Top reformers nomic Integration.
within the region in 2019 include Mauritius On the taxation side, negotiation and
with f ve reforms as well as Mozambique and conclusion of tax agreements has stalled as
Zimbabwe, each with four reforms. Top trans- no agreement has come into force since the
formers in 2020 include Zimbabwe and Eswa- last update. T erefore the network of Dou-
tini each with f ve reforms plus Mauritius with ble Taxation Avoidance Agreements re-
four reforms. Indications show that the re- mained unchanged at 59. In 2019, most
gion was ranked favourably in terms of Get- Member States were renegotiating or con-
ting Credit, Protecting Minority Investors; templating to renegotiate, their tax agree- 53
and Paying Taxes. ments. T is is to take into account
T e Global Competitiveness Index developments both at regional and interna-
2018-19 which is produced by the World tional levels particularly those related to
Economic Forum, shows that within Sub- Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)
Saharan Africa, SADC Member States issues. Some Member States were review-
achieved a comparatively higher competi- ing their treaty negotiation policies and
tiveness ranking (48) than East Africa (46.8) frameworks to, in part, address issues re-
or West Africa (44.5). T e report shows that lated to BEPS.