BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE – The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Secretariat, in collaboration with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will discuss more ways for regional trade.
This will be done during the upcoming SACU Summit. Then Summit has already kicked off some of its itinerary.
On Friday, SACU Chairperson of Commission Sizakele Dlamini urged SACU Member States to put more effort in advancing the work on industrialisation, trade facilitation and leveraging on the AfCFTA, amongst others, as the core pillars identified to advance the region’s economic growth.
Speaking at the opening of the 72nd Meeting of the SACU Commission, the Principal Secretary said it was important for SACU to leverage on the likely positive economic outlook for the coming year.
“It has been noted from the IMF that the economic forecast shows that the global economic outlook for 2023 remains pessimistic. For instance, the global growth is projected to fall from 3.4 in 2022 to 2.8 percent in 2023,” she said.
She went on to say, growth in SACU is projected to mirror the global prospects with the region expected to register average weighted growth of 1.8 percent in the current year (2023) compared to 2.3 percent in 2022.
“What is key for SACU is how to position itself and capitalise on the opportunities these geo-strategic developments present while mitigating the challenges they pose,” she said.
In addition she said as they engage on the SACU agenda , it is critical that they reflect and monitor the global economic outlook as this has the potential to impact on their macroeconomic policies direction and the direction SACU has agreed on as articulated in the SACU Strategic Plan 2022-2027.
Meanwhile, SACU regards the AfCFTA as a strategic continental instrument; hence, the implementation and leveraging of the AfCFTA has been prioritised as one of the pillars that underpin the recently approved SACU Strategic Plan for 2022–2027.
SACU aims to position itself to take full advantage of the AfCFTA through industrialisation, the development of regional value chains, export promotion and investment attraction and promotion.
The primary objectives of the Summit are to support and complement SACU Member States’ efforts in publicising and creating awareness about the implementation of the AfCFTA and to sensitise the business community in SACU on trade and investment opportunities available under the AfCFTA.
