2008 Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community

Opening Statement by Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA

Sandton, 16 August 2008

Your Excellency, Mr. Chairman;
Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government;

Your Excellency, Dr. Tomaz Salomäo, the Executive Secretary of SADC;

Honourable Ministers;
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a great pleasure to be here on behalf of ECA at this meeting at which the Free Trade Area of the Southern African Development Community will be launched. At the onset, I wish to take this opportunity to extend best wishes for a speedy recovery to President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia , who should have been in the chair. I also thank President Thabo Mbeki, the government and people of South Africa for their traditional warm hospitality and splendid arrangements made for the success of this meeting. In similar vein, I express sincere appreciation to my brother and friend, Dr. Tomaz Salomäo, Executive Secretary of SADC, for inviting me to join you on this historic occasion.

The launch of SADC's FTA is at once an expression of your well-known common commitment to the ideals of deeper regional integration as well as abiding faith in trade as an engine of growth. This framework with its associated harmonisation of rules and standards and removal of existing barriers promises welfare gains including more jobs, increased investment flows and improved economic prosperity. Indeed, it should help individual countries to diversify their economies and thereby collectively improve the productive capacities of SADC. Moreover, the SADC FTA is to be welcomed because is consistent with the ideals of continental integration and with the vision of the African Union and its NEPAD programme.

In taking its FTA forward, I know SADC will ensure that its benefits are broad-based and that they filter down to all member States and reach the grassroots including previously marginalized sectors of society such as women and poor rural dwellers. You are also creating an enabling environment for the further growth of the private sector, which has a key role to play in making successful use of the regulatory framework provided by the FTA. Equally commendable are on-going initiatives to harmonize SADC, COMESA, and EAC programmes which will give further impetus to achieving the aims of this Free Trade Area and also assist the process of concluding Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union.

Your Excellencies;

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

There is good reason to be positive about the prospects for the SADC Free Trade Area in spite of the recent lamentable breakdown of talks in the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization. While we must still hope that the global trade talks can be salvaged given the narrowness of the differences that need to be overcome, we should also see the situation as an opportunity in the sense that we should now focus our attention on intra-Africa trade. In this era of high food prices, it is now, more than ever before, important to promote intra-Africa trade as a means of meeting emergency food needs and in order to provide an incentive for increased investment in agricultural production. I also hope that the framework provided by the SADC Free Trade Area will enable the sub-region to take full advantage of the potential benefits of the aid for trade initiative.

In addition to high food prices which threaten food security and affect political stability, the world is confronted by high energy prices which pose a serious constraint on our collective ability to move forward on the development agenda including achieving the Millennium Development Goals. If we add the negative effect of climate change to the mix, it then becomes clear that concerted efforts will be needed if this region is to maintain current growth trends, and overcome spillover effects from increasingly troubling global economic outlook.

Your Excellencies

The SADC has, of course, established a strong track record of solidarity in responding positively to challenges that face this sub-region in areas such as poverty reduction, governance and confronting the challenge of HIV and AIDS. I am therefore confident that similar determination will be brought to bear in addressing present challenges of high food and energy prices, climate change and a potential economic downturn.

Your Excellencies;

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

ECA on its part, and indeed the entire UN System, remains available to support SADC's efforts with regard to operationalizing its FTA as well as in other areas of transboundary cooperation. In particular, we have created credible capacity to improve access to reliable data, which is essential for evidence-based planning and the monitoring and tracking of progress in various areas of development. Indeed, since I last addressed this august gathering, an African Centre for Statistics has been established at ECA and it is working actively with several SADC member States to improve their statistics and develop their national statistical systems. In this regard, we salute the support and encouragement received from the South African Government, in particular from Minister Trevor Manuel and his staff from the South African Department of Finance.

I should similarly mention with regard to some of the other challenges referred to earlier that ECA has established an African Climate Policy Centre as the policy arm of the Clim-Dev Africa programme in which we are collaborating with the AU Commission, the African Development Bank and other partners to support member States in meeting this emerging challenge. We have also embarked on the second phase of the African Trade Policy Centre, which is poised to support SADC in building up its trade policy capacities as it moves to operationalize its Free Trade Area.

Our cooperation in support of SADC's efforts over a wide range of activities is being deepened by the Multi-Year Programme of collaboration developed jointly by our two institutions. Meanwhile, we have re-focused our programmes so that they are synchronized and supportive of the priorities and programmes of the SADC Secretariat. You can count on the support of ECA and the entire United Nations system as you work together in a coherent and collaborative manner to improve the lives and prospects of your people.

Your Excellencies;

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

I wish SADC every success in its endeavours as it launches its FTA and I thank you for your kind attention.