Report

Monitoring Economic Integration in SADC, 2006/2007: Overlapping Memberships of Regional Economic Arrangements and EPA Configurations in Southern Africa

“The 2006-2007 version of Monitoring SADC has focused primarily on overlapping memberships within Southern Africa. Both in the context of regional integration blocks and within the framework of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA’s)that are being negotiated between the European Union and various groups of countries in the region. The aim is to outline the implications of these overlaps and to propose solutions to address the problem. This report is divided into six sections. Section 2 gives an overview of the restructuring process at the SADC Secretariat – the initiation and an update on the progress. Section three gives an update on the progress of regional integration in SADC. Section four looks at the consultation channels both at the regional level and within SADC member states. Section five looks at overlapping memberships of RTAs and EPA configurations within Southern and Eastern Africa. Finally, section six draws some lessons for SADC.”