EDITORIAL COMMENT: Africa needs to accelerate economic integration President Mugabe
President Mugabe

President Mugabe

AT its formation in 1963, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), had among its founding principles, the need to promote unity and solidarity among member states while stridently working towards the eradication of all forms of colonialism on the continent. It also sought to co-ordinate and intensify the co-operation of African states in order to achieve a better life for the people of the continent.

As well as defending the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of African states, the OAU was more of a unifying force for the continent. In 2002, it was replaced by the African Union with the new organisation pledging to accelerate the political and social-economic integration of the continent while seeking to promote and defend African common positions on issues of interest to the continent and its peoples.

As a modern organisation, the AU also seeks to encourage international cooperation, taking due account of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It endeavours to establish the necessary conditions which enable the continent to play its rightful role in the global economy and in international negotiations while promoting sustainable development at the economic, social and cultural levels as well as the integration of African economies.

Given that there is relative peace and tranquility on the continent save for a few hotspots, it is crucial that African countries accelerate the integration of their economies so that they benefit from synergies and the removal of barriers to free trade. Economic blocs such as the European Union benefit immensely from the free movement of goods and services between their nations and it is time Africa followed suit.

The Sadc Free Trade Area was established with the aim of further liberalising intra-regional trade in goods and services. This was achieved in August 2008, when a phased programme of tariff reductions that had commenced in 2001 resulted in the attainment of minimum conditions for the Free Trade Area — 85 percent of intra-regional trade amongst the partner states attained zero duty.

While the minimum conditions were met, maximum tariff liberalisation was only attained by January 2012, when the tariff phase down process for sensitive products was completed. Twelve out of 15 Sadc member states are part of the Free Trade Area, while Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Seychelles remain outside.

Since 2000, when implementation of the Sadc Trade Protocol commenced, intra-Sadc trade has more than doubled, with intra-Sadc trade estimated to have grown from about US$13.2 billion in 2000 to about US$34 billion in 2009, representing an increase of about 155 percent. The process is ongoing and expectations are that trade among member countries will continue to grow with time.

Other regional bodies elsewhere on the continent like Ecowas and Comesa are engaged in similar processes to encourage trade among their member states and it is against this background that the African Economic Platform (AEP) Summit is being held in Mauritius.

Addressing a plenary session of the summit on Monday, President Mugabe said African governments have a lot to do if they are to achieve an integrated continental economy and create home-grown solutions to continental problems. Africa, he said, was facing numerous challenges in this endeavour among them, terrorism and serious labour migration to Europe and the United States of America.

“But, I would want to say from a Government point of view, we still have a lot to do to ensure that the environments of our various countries are good enough for investment to come from outside,” President Mugabe said.

“Terrorism, inter-party fights still worry us. Our brother from Rwanda gave us quite a beautiful description of some of the things they are trying to do, to further the interests of the people but next to them is Burundi. Burundi versus Rwanda, and it’s a situation that is yet to be really prominently remedied so that the two countries can in future live on brotherly terms.

“There is also the Democratic Republic of Congo with a huge population. Yes, there is Inga (Dam) project in the offing, but as I speak now, you have United Nations soldiers in the Congo and even as they are there, you will be having attacks in the eastern side of Congo and everyone wonders whether the Congo, DRC will be stable — the stability of our environments. Those are some of the factors.”

We totally agree with the President that Africa needs to speak with one voice and every member state should also be genuine in their call for an integrated economy by promoting fair trade among African countries. We also feel the continent should seriously work towards the formation of a much more united African Union.

Value addition should underpin the industrialisation of African economies while advanced countries like South Africa should do more to assist other less developed economies by opening themselves to whatever goods other nations are capable of exporting to it.

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