Zambians urged to take advantage of Free Trade agreement

19 Aug 2008

Lusaka: A senior Zambian government official has called on local producers and manufacturers to take advantage of the recently launched Southern African Development Community (SADC) Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement to produce goods of high quality which can compete favourably in the region.

Commerce, Trade and Industry Ministry Permanent Secretary, Davison Chilipamushi said the FTA would increase trade and create a larger market in the region, and therefore business houses must increase domestic production in order to be competitive.

He said the FTA would have no immediate effect on the country's revenue collection as only 85% of goods produced in the SADC region would be exempted from duty.

Chilipamushi explained that the remaining 15% covered sensitive products that might affect the member countries' local market and hence will only be included in the FTA in the coming years.

He said the Zambian government welcomed the agreement as it would create greater business opportunities and consumers and producers would have access to cheaper inputs and goods.

This, in turn, will lead to employment creation and result in an increase in regional imports and exports.

He said there was already the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) FTA and now there was a SADC FTA in place.

"Zambian producers must take advantage and produce more for selling to other countries in the region," Chilipamushi said.

Cross Border Traders Association chairperson, Celeste Mwanakisi has also welcomed the launch of the SADC FTA as he felt it would increase trade and regional integration.

He also announced that the COMESA Secretariat would launch its Simplified Trade Regime (STR) this month which would allow small scale traders to have preferential trade without paying tax.

He appealed to governments in the SADC region to also introduce the STR in the region to enable small scale traders expand their businesses.

The Zambia Consumers Association (ZACA) said the SADC FTA would enable consumers to have access to a variety of goods at a lower price.

Its executive director, Muyunda Ililonga, said ZACA welcomed the launching of the SADC FTA which was long overdue.

Ililonga said the onus would be on manufacturers to improve the quality of their products.

"South Africa is one of the biggest growing economies in the SADC region and Zambian consumers will now have access to a variety of goods from that country at lower prices," he added.

The SADC FTA was launched last Sunday by South African President Thabo Mbeki at the recently concluded annual summit of the SADC Heads of State and government in Sandton, Johannesburg.

The launch of the FTA is supposed to lead to the establishment of a customs union by 2010, an SADC common market by 2015 and the creation of monetary union by 2016.

Only 12 countries in the 14-nation SADC agreed to the pact which the region hopes will boost trade and investment opportunities as well as create jobs.

The Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola have opted to stay out for the time being until their domestic economies are able to cope with the concessions required under the FTA.

The FTA will exempt 85% of trade from tariffs and aims to fully liberalise by 2012.

Article pubished courtesy of BuaNews.