Zambia-China economic, trade zone attracts $1bn
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Wed 07 Mar. 2012, 12:00 CAT
THE Zambia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone has attracted 17 companies and a total investment of nearly U$1 billion since inception five years ago, according to Zambia Development Agency.
ZDA says resident companies of the economic zone situated in Chambishi on the Copperbelt have generated nearly
US $500 million in
taxes and
sales revenues of
US $4.35 billion.
This is according to officials during a ceremony on Feb 3 in Beijing to mark the zone's fifth anniversary.
Founded by China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co Ltd (CNMC), the zone is "another milestone in ties between the two countries following the TAZARA Railway" built by China 40 years ago to link Zambia with Tanzania, said China's vice-foreign minister Zhai Jun.
The zone is the country's first multipurpose economic zone and China's first business cooperation area in Africa.
The two industrial parks in the zone have different functions to meet varied demands.
Its 11.58-square-kilometre Chambishi Park serves a copper mine of the same name and its major industries included metal processing and related services.
Lusaka Park, which covers 5.7 square-kilometre with Kenneth Kaunda International Airport nearby, is focused on trading, logistics and real estate.
The zone's developer CNMC started business in Zambia in 1998 and is now the largest Chinese investor in the nation.
It has nine companies in the country whose combined investment now exceeds US$2 billion. The operations have created more than 12,500 local jobs.
Luo Tao, CNMC general manager, said the cooperation zone was the best symbol of the "all-weather friendship" between China and Zambia.
"Building economic cooperation zones overseas was a brand new attempt and also a systematic project," Luo was quoted in the ZDA monthly newsletter. "The zone had a good start, but we still have a long way ahead of us."
The zone's development model emphasises energy conservation and eco-friendliness using technologies developed by leading Chinese universities.
Resource losses at the copper mine have been greatly reduced, while the smelting cost is about 30 per cent lower than other local companies.
CNMC is one of the earliest Chinese companies in the nonferrous metals industry to adopt a "go-abroad" policy, and one of the most successful.
It has business in more than 30 countries around the world including the United Kingdom, Australia and Africa.
Labels: CHINA, ECONOMIC ZONES, FREE TRADE AREA, MFEZ, ZDA
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COMMENT - The IMF/World Bank still up to their old tricks. Here they want Malawi to devalue it's currency. They made the same demand from Swaziland,
after their own privatisation abolished the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), from which the Swaziland government received the majority of it's revenues.
Bingu rejects IMF devaluation call, speaks on fuel crisis
By Nyasa Times
Published: June 24, 2011
Malawians who listened to the national address by President Bingu wa Mutharika Friday evening said he was “hardly convincing” as he did not give plausible assurance to solve the economic turmoil facing the country.
Mutharika, who has been summoned to parliament to explain the chronic fuel crisis, addressed the nation through state controlled Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) when he accused the donor community for causing the perennial fuel shortage by directing that the business of importing fuel should be left in the hands of private traders.
Mutharika: No devaluation
He said private traders refused to keep fuel reserves because he said it was expensive, hence creating the current fuel crisis.
Mutharika said the problems of fuel queues would be a thing of the past as government is to set up a National Oil Company which would look at ways of establishing strategic fuel reserve.
He said the fuel crisis will be abated in the coming days because supplies are now coming as government will take the responsibility of importing fuel.
“We have already started filling tankers at Dar es Salam which will be arriving in the country on Monday or Tuesday,” he said.
“We have over 300, 000 vehicles on the roads of Malawi; statistics are showing that we are purchasing about 3000 cars a month and all these are running on fuel not water. That aside, there are great construction works going on in the country, whose machinery also needs fuel to operate,” said Mutharika.
He said the opposition should provide solutions to solve the crisis other than taking to the streets for demonstrations.
“We are spending US$ 30 million every month on fuel alone, which shows on how serious we are on fuel. So if the opposition political parties have better ideas than ours, let them come forward instead of making baseless noise in the streets,” President Mutharika said.
Economists say billions of kwacha are being lost each day Malawian fuel pumps are dry as production of goods is affected and provision of service is also hampered as people spend lots of man-hours queuing for fuel.
President Mutharika, an economist, also commented on the call by International Monetary Fund (IMF) to devalue the local currency –Kwacha – claiming it was overvalued.
“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) told us that we should not be keeping our moneys in the Reserve Bank but instead it they should be given to the commercial banks. Last year all our money from tobacco was sent to the commercial banks which in turn gave it to traders,” said Mutharika, who opposed the devaluation saying it will fuel inflation and wouldn’t solve the country’s foreign exchange shortage.
“What these traders do is that when they see that they have bought enough United States Dollars, they call for the IMF to push for the devaluation of the kwacha so that they sell their money and make more profits,” he said.
Mutharika claimed traders are proposing for the Kwacha to be devalued to K180 equivalent to $1 when they bought it at K140.
“I have been asking the IMF to tell me how I am going to protect my people and they have just been saying that they will find measures. Unless the IMF tells me how I will protect my people, I will not devalue the Kwacha,” he stressed.
Mutharika also defended the new financial plan, on ‘zero deficit’ budget and defended the taxes on the poor, saying “there is no country on earth without taxes. It is the taxes which we use to run the country but we cannot put up measures to oppress Malawians.”
He claimed that some donors , which he did not name, have assured him that they will continue supporting Malawi and they are happy with the step the country has taken to fund its recurrent budget, boasting : “I know what I am doing and trust me, you will all be glad with what I am doing.” –(Reporting by Green Muheya, Nyasa Times)
Labels: FREE TRADE AREA, IMF, NEOLIBERALISM, SACU
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COMMENT - More neoliberal nonsense. Already, the Swaziland government, which received most of it's income from taxation, is in trouble. The IMF is already advising them to start cutting jobs, and implement other austerity measures, rather than turn back this damned policy. (See:
Swaziland must get its house in order, warns World Bank JINTY JACKSON MBABANE, SWAZILAND - May 22 2011 07:40; and
MBABANE – Privat-ising the SwaziBank and allowing a second mobile phone operator are key to improving Swaziland’s business climate, the IMF says.", and
Chikane hopes Free Trade Area will break barriers
By Moses Kuwema
Fri 17 June 2011, 04:01 CAT
SOUTH African High Commissioner to Zambia Moses Chikane says
the recently launched Free Trade Area in the SADC, Comesa and East African region will help
remove unnecessary trade barriers such as taxation. In an interview, High Commissioner Chikane said any step towards the unity of purpose by the African continent is a step in the right direction.
“We know that the world has been shrinking economically because people have been forming all sorts of consortiums and regional formations and I think Africa must work to that cause. I hope that this launch will be able to remove some of the unnecessary barriers that exist among ourselves, one of them is over-taxation which makes it very difficult for people to make business,” he said.
High Commissioner Chikane said other barriers include unnecessary political blockage that sometimes are formed by unwise decisions.
He said it was important for Africa to survive and that this could only happen if the people's interest were placed as a priority.
“The benefits are that Africa will learn to keep itself without all these barriers and by keeping ourselves we would be regaining our dignity. Once we can be able to trade freely it means everybody will be able to put food on the table…and that is regaining of dignity,” he said.
High Commissioner Chikane said African countries were able to provide jobs generated by themselves in the region through trade in goods.
“The fact that the quality standards have been set beyond our means if we trade with ourselves then it means we will be able to deal with all these questions and that is already a benefit.
We believe that if we can be able to benefit our products. By selling amongst ourselves, we will be able to provide jobs, not only will we provide goods because there will be demand and supply among us,” said High Commissioner Chikane.
*****
For more background on the impact of the IMF/World Bank's neoliberal economic policies (privatisation, free trade for corporate capital and deregulation) in Swaziland, read:
Africa: Swaziland in Crisis as Customs Union Revenue Is Slashed
* by Mantoe Phakathi (mbabane)
* Tuesday, February 08, 2011
* Inter Press Service
Apart from the looming job losses in Swaziland’s public sector, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have also warned of retrenchments following the government’s decision to suspend procurement from small businesses.
Workers during a recent protest in Mbabane about the Swaziland government's financial crisis. - Mantoe Phakathi/IPS Workers during a recent protest in Mbabane about the Swaziland government's financial crisis. - Mantoe Phakathi/IPS
The government of the southern African autocratic monarchy has been forced to cut expenditure after its receipts from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) shrunk with 60 percent.
SACU receipts contribute more than half of the country’s national revenue; due to changes in the revenue formula, Swaziland’s share has dropped from 741 million dollars to 281 million dollars.
The government’s sudden exercise in fiscal discipline comes after recommendations by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the government not purchase any new goods and services unless already committed to, postpone all new investment projects, and slow down the implementation of existing ones in line with available financing.
The Swaziland cabinet took a decision that all ministries that require financing for any basic materials should write to the minister of finance requesting authorisation.
A cash flow committee, consisting of the governor of the central bank, the accountant general and the ministry of finance, has been established to monitor developments, the minister of finance, Majozi Sithole, told IPS.
'It is such assessments that enable the ministry to decide which expenditure to accept and which not to accept,' Sithole explained. The committee also helps prevent government from over-committing itself, which protects suppliers from not being paid for services and goods rendered.
The majority of SMEs in the country are sustained by supplying the government with stationery, building material and protective clothing.
'We are not getting any contracts from government right now, except those dealing with education and health supplies,' Ezekiel Mabuza, vice-president of the Federation of the Swaziland Business Community (FESBC), told IPS.
FESBC has close to 300 members, the majority of which are dependent on state tenders and which are now losing millions of dollars.
The SMEs have been left with no choice but to downscale their services. 'We can no longer justify the number of people in our employ because we are not getting as much business as we used to,' said Mabuza.
FESBC has yet to sit down to work out the number of people whose jobs are on the line. 'It would be difficult to state the figures for now,' said Mabuza.
FESBC Mbabane branch chairperson Titus Thwala blamed SME dependency on the small size of the Swaziland economy: 'The market is too small. That is why a lot of small businesses are servicing the state.'
He said it was very 'sad' that the government did not consult with businesspeople before suspending procurement. 'The government had already put some goods and services out on tender. We were informed of the suspension only after applying for the tenders,' said Thwala.
Mabuza added that government knew about the approaching fiscal challenges more than five years ago but did nothing to prepare the business community. IMF reports in the last few years have also continually warned the Swaziland government that SACU receipts will decrease after 2010.
'It would have been easier, had we been made aware of the problem over the years,' said Mabuza. 'Right now, we are taken by surprise, which is why a lot of our workers will suffer.'
The finance minister blamed part of the fiscal crisis on businesspeople that he accused of conniving with public servants in looting state resources through bogus sales. Sithole told the parliament recently that the government loses about 5,7 million dollars a month to corruption.
He told a recent meeting on the fiscal crisis that some companies would supply government with unnecessary furniture just to get money 'for the weekend'. 'If we could stop at least most of the corruption that drains our resources, our recovery would be quicker,' said Sithole.
The state currently survives through borrowed funds to pay wages, which has left little money to buy goods and services.
'The government has to minimise the cost of borrowing by only borrowing as and when cash is needed. This requires close monitoring,' explained Sithole.
Swaziland would have borrowed 286 million dollars by the end of the financial year in March 2011, increasing the domestic debt to 357 million dollars. The government raised the domestic borrowing ceiling from 143 million dollars to 428 million dollars.
One of the reasons for the Swaziland government’s borrowing from domestic sources is that the IMF refused to give it the go-ahead to source funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) until it puts its house in order.
While local banks have agreed to lend money to the government, SMEs are not so lucky. 'The risk is lower when you lend to the government, compared to the entrepreneur.
'This puts SMEs at a disadvantage when it comes to access to loans,' said Zodwa Mabuza, chief executive officer of the Federation of Swaziland Business Employers and Chamber of Commerce.
SMEs have always struggled to get funding from local banks and they do not stand a chance when competing with government, she added.
Labels: FREE TRADE AREA, MOSES CHIKANE, SADC
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‘Small cross border traders benefit less from COMESA FTA’
Written by Mutuna Chanda in Kasumbalesa
Thursday, January 29, 2009 9:54:02 AM
COMMERCE acting permanent secretary Gideon Lintini has said evidence shows that small cross border traders have benefited less from the COMESA Free Trade Area.
And Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) secretary general in the external trade ministry Albert Kwete has warned Congolese authorities in the newly-established Trade Information Desk at Kasumbalesa border not to use it as an avenue to defeat efforts to fight poverty.
During the launch of the Trade Information Desk for small-scale cross border traders at Kasumbalesa border on the DRC side on Tuesday, Lintini said the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Free Trade Area had to a large extent facilitated trade for large and medium exporters and manufacturers while small cross border traders had not benefited as much.
“Despite this, the cross border traders have continued to play a significant role in providing employment to population groups who otherwise would not be employed in the formal sector thereby giving them the means to earn incomes and sustain their livelihoods particularly women and the youth,” Lintini said.
Lintini said cross border trade ensured food security in border areas by facilitating the movement of food from areas of abundance to areas of deficit and in the process stimulating increased food production.
“This small-scale trade should therefore be supported and facilitated through the provision of information and other support services as envisaged in the COMESA Simplified Trade Regime,” he said.
The Trade Information Desk at Kasumbalesa is a joint COMESA, British Department for International Development (DFID) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) initiative called ‘Trading for Peace’ which aims at encouraging trading and peaceful co-existence between DRC and neighbouring countries.
The desk is the first of its kind among COMESA member states.
And officiating at the launch, Kwete urged officials running the desk to act responsibly and completely frank in respect of ethical and moral values to ensure that the aims of facilitating reduced costs of business incurred by small-scale cross border traders were achieved.
He said studies had shown that informal and illegal small-scale cross border trade constituted 35 per cent of all official transactions in East Africa and COMESA.
He said this prompted the governments in COMESA to adopt the Simplified Trade Regime as an important aspect of formalising informal trade.
And COMESA assistant secretary general Nagla El-Husseiny said the desk would provide information to small-scale traders on the operational modalities of the COMESA Simplified Trade Regime.
“The COMESA Simplified Trade Regime is intended to allow small scale traders to enjoy duty free and quota free entry of their goods across the borders in COMESA and therefore reducing costs incurred by traders,” said El-Husseiny. “The need to reduce the cost of doing business for small scale traders cannot be overemphasised especially given the current high costs that have been perpetuated by among other factors the use of informal channels, the payment of unregulated fees and charges and inadequate facilities and systems at border posts.”
Labels: COMESA, DRC, FREE TRADE AREA
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SADC now a free trade area
Itayi GARANDE
Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:25:00 +0000
A map of the Free Trade Area (FAT) is shown on the screen during the 28th summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), in Johannesburg, South Africa, Aug. 17, 2008. The SADC officially launched the Free Trade Area (FTA) under the theme of "SADC Free Trade Area for Growth, Development and Wealth Creation" on Sunday.(Xinhua Photo/Xu Suhui)
THE Southern African Development Community (Sadc) which boasts 15 members including Zimbabwe, is now a Free Trade Area (FTA) as leaders attending the just ended summit of heads of states and government have signed the related agreement.
Following along the lines of the European Union and other regional free trade zones the region has made a historic step toward the vision of a fully integrated economic region.
This means most goods produced in the region can now enter member countries free of custom duties. As for January next year, 85 per cent of goods will be exempted from tax in the SADC area aiming to fully liberalize by 2012. This will help to facilitate smooth operation of business among SADC member states and reach out to 230 million consumers in the sub-region.
The memorandum establishing the FTA – an idea first mooted (and adopted) in Maseru, Lesotho after it gained independence from Britain in 1966 – says it is expected to enhance economic growth, create jobs and fight poverty in the region.
The current SADC Chair President Thabo Mbeki launched the trade protocol, and praised the region's joint effort. He warned against taking the agreement for granted as it was a major step in the development of the region.
“I raised this because we need to resuscitate the shared vision and commitment, the unity and cohesion that has characterized Sadc from its inception”, said President Mbeki.
In line with this vision, the South African president pledged the Sadc troika's total commitment to resolving the Zimbabwe crisis, stressing that only Zimbabweans will be able to truly find a solution to the crisis in the country.
Eleven of the 14 countries that are part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will participate in the Free Trade Area. These are Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Three SADC countries - Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Malawi - plan to join at a later date due to weak economies.
The Free Trade Area precedes a Customs Union planned by 2010, a Common Market by 2015, Monetary Union by 2016, and a single currency by 2018.
The agreement is inspired by the classic principles of comparative advantages, which in this case advocate that member countries should produce and export goods with a comparative advantage, importing good from the region’s countries that they are unable to efficiently produce themselves.
The two-day summit was also marked by the return of the Seychelles, a small archipelago in the Indian Ocean which decided to move out of the Sadc immediately after it joined in 2000 for economic reasons. It is yet to join the FTA.
Labels: FREE TRADE AREA, SADC, SADC FREE TRADE AREA
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President Mbeki briefs the press on SADC summit
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:35:00 +0000
REMARKS by South African President Thabo Mbeki on the conclusion of the 28th SADC Heads of State and Government Summit, Sandton, August 17 2008.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, good evening. I am sure that all of you have received a copy of the communiqué that was approved by the SADC Summit earlier today which contains the principle decisions that were taken by the SADC Summit. In that context, I must repeat the strong view of the Summit, all of us wish the President of Zambia Levy Mwanawasa a speedy recovery, our outgoing Chair.
We discussed off course as is normal at a SADC Summit political and socio-economic issues and on the political front, noted the efforts being made in the region to address issues in that areas - that include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi and off course, Zimbabwe, I will return to this just now.
It is our belief that all these situations in the DRC, the resolution of the electoral dispute in Lesotho, and the constitutional dispute in Malawi, that progress is being made towards the resolution of the challenges in that regard.
As we indicated earlier, the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation chaired by Angolan President Dos Santos and later by the new Chairperson of the Organ, His Majesty King Mswati III, met on Friday, Saturday and today to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe. In that context, the SADC Organ has issued a communiqué that you will receive shortly which among other things, expresses firm opinion that documents that are contained in the Facilitator's Report reflect that framework, spirit and purpose of the SADC and African Union decisions and in view of that, that they are a good basis for a global agreement among the Zimbabwe parties and in that context, therefore, we appeal to the Zimbabwe parties to sign any outstanding agreements and to conclude the negotiations in Zimbabwe and said recognizing that while negotiations are continuing it may be necessary to convene parliament to give effect to the will of the people as expressed in the Parliamentary elections in March this year and off course, encouraged the Facilitator to continue the mediation efforts which means that the negotiations will continue and the Facilitation will continue to do its work in this regard in trying to implement this decision of SADC and encourage the parties to conclude these outstanding agreements on the basis, that in fact, the documents that have been agreed to, provide this good basis for the conclusion of the negotiations.
In that context, I must mention that the report of the Facilitator that is referred to in the communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit of the Organ is a comprehensive report which contains all of the documents that have been negotiated and agreed to in the negotiations that started last year and that would include the Draft Constitution that was agreed to in September last year and a whole range of other documents. It is a comprehensive report of the negotiations as they have been going on now for at least 15 months. That is the report to which the resolution refers.
Off course, the outstanding result of the conference with regard to economic matters is the formal launch of the SADC Free Trade Area (FTA) and the critical challenge with regard to that is that we implement everything that is contained in this FTA to accelerate the process of economic integration of the region.
The Summit also then said, that given that we have launched the FTA we must continue the work that would lead to the formation of the SADC Customs Union that would be the next step in that regard.
It also paid attention to two important matters related: the implementation of the decisions that came out of the conference held in Mauritius to address poverty in the region and again, you would see that reflected in the communiqué that was issued earlier and a related matter about food security and again took decisions about what we should do in this regard to act within the region to address food shortages that some countries in the region are experiencing but otherwise to deal with this matter of ensuring that the region is self-sufficient in food production and what specific steps need to be taken in that regard.
Off course naturally, we addressed the matter of energy and what could be done in the region to address this.
As you know, we also signed a number of legal instruments which included the Protocol on Gender and Agreements in Science and Technology, Trade and so on. So, these are some of the principle outcomes and as I had indicated, they would be included in the SADC communiqué as well as the communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation.
It is our view that certainly the Conference completed its agenda and it is our view that it was indeed an excellent Summit that took decisions which are of importance to the political and economic structure of the region and in amending various provisions to the SADC Secretariat which also meant amending the Treaty of SADC also emphasized the point that SADC Summit is very keen that we should indeed have the capacity to implement the decisions that have been taken so that we do indeed accelerate our forward movement with regard to all of these matters that relate to political stability and so on in the region as well as the process of economic integration and the socio-economic upliftment of all the people in our region so, we believe that this was indeed a very successful Summit and I must conclude by saying that we are very pleased that Seychelles came back into SADC and that in itself was confirmation of the relevance of SADC in terms of the future of our countries in the region and that is indeed why Seychelles thought it was important that it should come back into the Community and we are very pleased by this.
Let me then finally thank all of you for your co-operation in covering the Summit and the SADC region in particular and I would hope that we would continue to co-operate in the manner in which we have because we are very interested indeed that our people in the region, in particular, should be familiar with the decisions we are taking and the work that the Community is doing.
Thank you.
Questions and answers
Question: Mr President I would like to know if you have any sense of when we can expect to see a final agreement signed by the negotiating parties in Zimbabwe? Can you also give us a sense of the concerns around the outstanding agreements?
Mbeki: It is clearly not possible to say when the negotiations would be concluded. It is a matter of the negotiating parties convening to look at whatever matter might be outstanding. One cannot allocate a date to this and the SADC Organ did not indicate a date by which this matter should be concluded with regard to the completion of this process, except to indicate the urgency of the matter. So, it is not possible to say when the negotiations would be concluded.
Question: Mr President you said that the Organ agreed that the documents provided form a good basis on which to conclude the negotiations. Does that mean that you
feel that there is no need to negotiate over the documents?
Mbeki: I am not aware if this communiqué has been distributed. You will see that that particular paragraph expresses the strong opinion of the Extraordinary Summit of the SADC Organ having studied the documents to which I referred earlier, came that conclusion looking at those documents relative to the decisions/resolutions of SADC and the African Union on the matter, expressed that opinion but said that negotiations should continue and that would include concluding negotiations and signing any outstanding agreements as a matter of urgency.
So essentially, what the Extraordinary Summit was saying was that negotiations should continue but of course, having had the possibility for the first time of looking at the entirety of the documentation, the Organ felt it should express its own view about this because bearing in mind, these two resolutions - SADC and the African Union - so, it says that negotiations need to continue but it is off that view with regard to the quality and extent of the work that has already been done by the Zimbabwean negotiators that they have produced a set of documents that in the view of the Organ do indeed address the issues that were raised in these two resolutions and to that extent, they believe form a good basis for a speedy resolution of outstanding matters but that the negotiations must off course, continue.
Question: Mr President what are the outstanding issues in the agreement?
Mbeki: Let me explain something before we get more questions - I am speaking here not as the Facilitator but as the Chair of SADC. Now you are asking me to get involved in a discussion that deals with the Facilitation and I must say that I cannot answer questions posed to the Facilitator - I can answer questions posed to the Chair of SADC but bear in mind that there is an agreement in the Facilitation process arrived at by all the parties and the Facilitation that we would not handle the process of negotiations through the media and indeed I am sure you will remember this because it is also included in the Memorandum of Understanding so to that extent, there is a limitation that is imposed with regard to how much detail we can express but that is a matter that belongs to the Facilitation process.
But with regard to what the Organ discussed I think it is properly and fully reflected in the communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit of the Organ.
Question: Mr President yesterday, when you were speaking as the Chair of SADC, you said that the negotiations needed to be concluded to extricate the Zimbabwean people from the dire situation in which they find themselves. Could you give us an impression of what you see as the humanitarian urgency for a deal?
Mbeki: What drove SADC in the first place, to last year convene an extraordinary Summit of the Organ in Dar-es-Salaam in March last year to discuss Zimbabwe - there were other matters on the agenda like the DRC and so on - was driven by very serious concerns about the matter you have referred to, the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe.
And the discussions that have taken place over the last three days focused us on really trying to assist to speed up the process of the conclusion of the negotiations and the implementation of the agreements that would come from these negotiations.
It is driven precisely by these very deep seated concerns in the region that the political concerns must be created so that with the greatest urgency this humanitarian, economic and social condition in Zimbabwe can be addressed as a matter of urgency by an inclusive government. So it is matter of fundamental concern to the region - this socio-economic and humanitarian condition of the people of Zimbabwe.
But believe that we need this inclusive government to drive this process of addressing these challenges but this consideration of the humanitarian situation of the people of Zimbabwe is fundamental to all of the statements that are made and this decision of SADC emphasizing the urgency of this matter. It is not just to address the political stability but also to create the conditions so that you have an inclusive government that would then address these other urgent issues.
Question: Mr President as the Chair of SADC, do you believe that any deal that leaves President Mugabe with any power is going to be acceptable to the international donor community and is it going to be a long term solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe?
Mbeki: The two resolutions that bind the Facilitation - the first one said specifically that could the Facilitator please get the ruling party and the opposition to meet and discuss in order to resolve the political challenges facing Zimbabwe.
The African Union resolution said the same thing. And so, we have indeed been working over this period with the ruling party and the MDC lead by Mr Tsvangirai and the MDC lead by Professor Mutambara and the decision that will be reached about what needs to happen will come from the Zimbabwean parties.
It certainly would not be correct for the Facilitator to hand down any prescriptions to say that the person or group that should be part of the inclusive government to which these parties have agreed so it would be a matter really that the Zimbabwean parties would agree to - who is in that inclusive government and the role that they would play in that inclusive government.
That must truly come from the Zimbabwe parties because I think of all of us, they know best what is good for Zimbabwe and the thing is that everybody - the Facilitator, SADC, the international community - would have to respect what the Zimbabwe political leadership says about Zimbabwe and I am quite certain that the Zimbabwe political parties would answer the question you have posed on the basis of what they think is right for Zimbabwe, what they think is required in Zimbabwe.
It is not any determination that can, nor indeed should, be made by anybody. Let's really allow the people of Zimbabwe to determine their future. This is critically important because any solution that is imposed from outside will not last, it will not last, unless it is a common product that is owned by this entire collective of the leadership of Zimbabwe. I think if the Facilitation tried to impose any solution we would be creating a situation that actually would amount to creating conditions for the failure of whatever might be incorrectly described as a solution.
Transcript issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Pretoria, August 18 2008
Labels: FREE TRADE AREA, SADC, SADC FREE TRADE AREA, THABO MBEKI, ZIMBABWE
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Santos asks Morgan to prove his victory claim
By George Chella in Johannesburg, South Africa
Sunday August 17, 2008 [04:00]
ANGOLAN President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has challenged MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai to substantiate his claims that he won the March 29 presidential elections in Zimbabwe. And the Zambian government has said events leading to the presidential runoff in Zimbabwe had left a serious blot on the culture of democracy in SADC.
Informed sources yesterday told The Post that the SADC organ on defence and security on Friday requested Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to address it on the situation in the country.
“President Mugabe was asked to address the organ which he did, including laying to bear the facts of the agreements but when Morgan Tsvangirai was requested, he also gave his side.’
e said ‘the people of Zimbabwe spoke in March and that position should be recognised,” the source revealed. “But Dos Santos challenged Tsvangirai saying his statement was inconsistent with what the leaders have. Dos Santos said ‘this is inconsistent with what we have.
It’s also inconsistent with your own law which you don’t seem to understand so can you please get a lawyer to interpret this for you.’”
The source further said that the MDC faction leader Professor Arthur Mutambara also explained to the organ on the situation in Zimbabwe.
“Professor Mutambara told the organ that, ‘yes in March people spoke but what did they say? They never said a single party should take power. They said the parties must share power since there was no outright winner in the March elections and this is what we are doing,’” said the source.
And Zambia’s foreign affairs minister Kabinga Pande, who was representing outgoing SADC chairperson President Levy Mwanawasa, gave the Zambian position on the Zimbabwean crisis.
“The regrettable events leading to the runoff have no doubt left a serious blot on the culture of democracy in our region. This brought into a question the ability of SADC to maintain the rule of law,” Pande said.
“I take cognisance of the decision of the African Union urging political parties in Zimbabwe to dialogue to find a solution to the political crisis in the country.”
Pande also welcomed the dialogue on the Zimbabwe crisis led by South African President Thabo Mbeki.
On infrastructure development, Pande said the SADC heads of state held a special session on the need to scale up infrastructure.
“It was agreed that there was need to upgrade our regional infrastructure,” Pande said. “On 24th July, 2008 Botswana and Zambia signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the construction of the Kazungula Bridge on the Zambezi River.”
Pande also said the region faced energy deficits which were reaching worrying levels. He also said the region was experiencing adverse effects of droughts, floods and cyclones.
Pande said the launch of the Free Trade Area would facilitate trade and regional integration.
On the Xenophobia attacks in South Africa recently, Pande said the attacks deterred SADC efforts on smooth implementation of free movements of goods and labour.
And in his acceptance speech, SADC chairperson President Mbeki thanked the Zimbabwean political leadership for the efforts in the dialogue process.
“I salute leaders of Zimbabwe for the enormous efforts made to agree on the common agenda to address the issues facing the nation,” President Mbeki said. “Let them finalise negotiations and attend to the reconstruction of Zimbabwe and take the people off the dire straits.”
President Mbeki said people had high hopes and awaited positive results from the Zimbabwean talks.
“We can draw the inspiring legacy of frontline states. We must help to restore Zimbabwe on the road to recovery,” he said.
Earlier in his welcoming remarks, President Mbeki said South Africa was delighted to welcome people to the summit which would include the launch of the Free Trade Area and also the re-admission of Seychelles.
“Without SADC, we will not be able to achieve regional development and integration. It’s important to be conscious that whatever we do or don’t, we will swim or sink together,” President Mbeki said. “I trust that the 28th SADC summit will confront poverty, underdevelopment, deepen democracy and political stability.”
And African Union commission chairperson Jean Ping expressed sincere gratitude to President Mbeki for successfully hosting the 28th summit. He also paid tribute to President Mwanawasa for spearheading the creation of the Free Trade Area.
“Tomorrow, SADC will launch its Free Trade Area. I would like to congratulate all the SADC heads of state, and allow me to pay tribute to President Levy Mwanawasa for spearheading the creation of the SADC Free Trade Area in his capacity as outgoing SADC chairman. Owing to his illness, he is not here to witness this historic launch of the SADC FTA,” he said. “On behalf of the AU and myself, I wish His Excellency a quick recovery.”
And SADC executive secretary Dr Thomaz Salomao urged the region to endeavor to have peace through dialogue.
He said peace, security and political stability were a prerequisite to progress. Dr Salomao also said the state of regional infrastructure continued to pose challenges.
Meanwhile, Botswana President Major General Ian Kharma boycotted the summit.
The Botswana government recently indicated that it would not attend the summit because there was no legitimate government in Zimbabwe.
Labels: FREE TRADE AREA, JOSE EDWARDO DOS SANTOS, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, SADC, SANCTIONS
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Zim exports into Comesa soar
Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S exports into the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa increased to 64 percent while imports rose to 93 percent, the Minister of Industry and International Trade Mr Obert Mpofu has said. He attended the 24th meeting of the Comesa council of ministers held in Zambia recently. Overall the Comesa region registered a 5 percent growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in spite of the increase in oil prices.
In order to grow the GDP in the region, the council resolved to promote the Free Trade Area (FTA) by taking up a pilot project on a simplified trade regime whose objective is to encourage SMEs and cross border traders to benefit from the area. Mr Mpofu said simplified trade would not only provide employment and livelihood but would also promote food security.
"The Council is mainly promoting cross border traders because they act as agents for moving produce from surplus to deficit areas".
Zimbabwe will implement the project through the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises Development and the funds will come from the Comesa Secretariat. Mr Mpofu said for the project to be successful, council had underscored the need for a fair, transparent and predictable framework for doing business.
This would be made possible through the development of a regional quality policy on Standardisation and Quality Assurance, which would include a regional technical regulatory framework as well as modalities on certification, testing and calibration services.
Minister Mpofu said after informing the council of the progress of the Chirundu One-Stop Border Post, it was resolved that the Secretariat should work with member states to identify border posts with a major impact on regional trade, at which the lessons learnt from the Chirundu border post would be replicated.
The bilateral agreement on the One-Stop Border Post project is in the process of being ratified.
Last week, the One-Stop Border Posts Control Bill, which provides for the conclusion of agreements with one or more neighbouring states on the establishment of the border posts went through the second reading in Parliament.
The proposed law makes it possible for selected laws of Zimbabwe to be applied extra-territorially while similar laws of one or more states would have the same effect inside Zimbabwe.
With regard to the change to digital broadcasting from analogue as proposed by the organisers of the Fifa 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the council resolved that Comesa countries should develop strategies that would enable the region to broadcast the World Cup events to the public.
Labels: COMESA, FREE TRADE AREA, SMEs, ZIMBABWE
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Launch of SADC Free Trade Area vital for private sector - Dr Salomao
By Bivan Saluseki
Tuesday October 16, 2007 [04:00]
SADC executive secretary Dr Tomaz Salomão has said the launch of the SADC Free Trade Area will be a new progressive development of significant importance to the private sector and all stakeholders in the region. During the Communications Strategy and Plan of Action for the SADC FTA meeting in Botswana, Dr Salomão said it was everyone's collective responsibility to drive the SADC regional integration agenda.
"For the imperatives of our situation to address issues of poverty, employment creation, the challenges of HIV-AIDS dictate that we all move together with resolve and clarity," he said.
According to a statement released yesterday, Dr Salomão said the region should strive towards achieving sustainable development and the process of consolidating trade and economic integration agenda.
He said the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) and the Strategic Indicative Plan for the Organ (SIPO) provided a basis for the SADC Regional Integration Strategy and Programme.
The RISDP specifically calls for the establishment of the SADC Free Trade Area (FTA) by 2008; a SADC Customs Union by 2010; a SADC Common Market by 2015; a SADC Monetary Union by 2016; and a single currency by 2018.
In order to ensure that the milestones as contained in the RISDP were achieved, the SADC Summit had agreed to establish a Ministerial Task Force, comprising Ministers responsible for Finance and Investment, Trade, Development and Planning to spearhead the acceleration and implementation of the SADC Economic Integration Agenda.
Dr Salomão said the purpose of the communications strategy and Action Plan was to help direct and guide the process of public information dissemination and education, in order for the stakeholders to take full advantage of the opportunities that the FTA would provide.
Labels: FREE TRADE AREA, SADC, TOMAZ SALOMAO
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Zambia needs enhanced productivity - Shakafuswa
By Joan Chirwa
Monday August 20, 2007 [04:00]
FINANCE deputy minister Jonas Shakafuswa has said Zambia needs to grow its economy through the enhancement of productivity to realise the benefits of its SADC membership.
Speaking to journalists in Lusaka on Saturday after the induction ceremony of the rotary of Kusinta president Henry Lyatumba, Shakafuswa said much as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries have agreed on integration and the formation of the Free Trade Area next year as well as the Customs Union in 2010, Zambia needs to work on productivity for it to compete effectively.
"As we go towards having the common projects that will be under SADC, it is important for us as Zambia to grow our economy, and utilise our resources as well as enhance productivity," Shakafuswa said. "If we rely on revenue collection from the borders, this will have adverse effects on our economy. The most important thing to do now is to increase production at local level."
Shakafuswa said the current economic projects being undertaken should be done cautiously to ensure that the outcome is felt among the citizens.
"Whatever we are doing, we should do it in a big way in order to increase productivity," Shakafuswa said. "The other issue that we have to look at is the energy sector. There are regional projects going on in the energy sector. We hope all these projects will balance up the energy sector in view of the looming power deficit in the region."
Shakafuswa further said Zambians should look to other sources of energy in order to mitigate the impact of low generation capacity of hydro electricity in the country.
"There are other sources of energy which are sufficient. Some places can be put on solar grid. This is one way that can help us in effectively distributing energy to the consumers," Shakafuswa said. "This looming energy deficit in the southern African region will hit us badly if we do not find workable measures to mitigate it immediately. We have to look at alternatives."
And during the induction ceremony, Shakafuswa hoped the rotarians in the country would continue supplementing government efforts in social and economic development.
"I urge you to continue with the spirit of togetherness," said Shakafuswa.
Earlier, Lyatumba said the rotary club would soon engage in advertisement of its activities for people to understand its operations.
"During my term in office, I also hope to revive the rotary club of UTH. I believe doctors and nurses can help us achieve what we want," said Lyatumba. The rotary club also announced that it had invested well over US$100,000 in community projects over the last one year.
Labels: FREE TRADE AREA, JONAS SHAKAFUSWA, SADC
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