Page 66 - sadc40en

2008-2009 The 28 SADC Summit was held in Sandton, South Africa on 16-17
th
August 2008, hosted and chaired by President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki.

Launch of SADC Free Trade Area
The SADC Free Trade Area (FTA) was formally launched by the 28th
Summit on 16 August 2008 following the implementation of agreed tariff phase-down
commitments between 2000 and 2007, as the first milestone in the regional economic
integration agenda, signalling the creation of an FTA of more than 250 million people.
From 2008, producers and consumers would no longer pay import duty on an estimated
85 percent of all trade in goods between participating Member States, with the expectation
of a new era of economic integration and rapid industrialisation through expanded trading
opportunities. Summit emphasised the need for full implementation of the SADC Protocol
on Trade to ensure that the FTA is sustainable and the Customs Union is attainable, and
called for cooperation in the expansion of regional productive capacity, with provision and
rehabilitation of regional infrastructure, and the efficient movement of goods and people
in a more open regional economy.

Protocols and other Legal Instruments
The following legal instruments were signed: Agreement Amending the Treaty; Protocol
on Gender and Development; Protocol on Science, Technology and Innovation; and
Agreement amending Article 20 of the Protocol on Trade; Agreement Amending Article
6 of the Protocol on the Tribunal and the Rules of Procedure Thereof.
56
Extra­Ordinary Summit of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation
With regard to the ongoing challenges in Zimbabwe, the 28th Summit noted the outcomes
of the Extra-Ordinary Summit of the Organ held during the SADC Summit, which
commended the parties for their commitment to dialogue in resolving the political
situation, and called on the parties to form an inclusive government. This was subsequently
negotiated and agreed at a meeting on 15 September 2008 in Harare, presided over by
the SADC Chairperson, President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki of South Africa, and
implemented from 2009 until the next elections in 2013.

SADC­EAC­COMESA Tripartite Summit
Three regional economic blocs have moved closer to the long-conceived goal of an African
Economic Community when they approved the establishment of an enlarged Free Trade
Area encompassing 26 Member States in the three sub-regions. All three have attained
FTA status and are at various stages of establishing Customs Unions.
Meeting at a Tripartite Summit hosted by Uganda in Kampala on 22 October
2008, the leaders of SADC, the East African Community (EAC) and the
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) agreed
on this important milestone for the harmonisation of the regional
integration programmes, that also constitutes a framework for broader
continental cooperation. This Tripartite Agreement will create a grand FTA
that will bring together half of the countries on the continent into a formidable
trading bloc with a combined population of 527 million people and
a combined GDP of US$625billion, to be effected in 2012.