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At the first summit of the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (T-FTA) states in October 2008 in Kampala, certain decisions were adopted on how to launch and undertake the process of e...

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has been entering into force over a period of time. It was originally set to become fully operational b...

The need for sustainable structural transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is universally accepted and has more recently been reinforced by several international organisations,...

In 2012/2013, the African National Congress and South African Government adopted the National Development Plan (NDP) as its launchpad and blueprint for a future economic and socioe...

The serious observer of the South African economic policy scene cannot help but notice the multitude of official policy documents and strategies that appeared in recent years. Ther...

Two-way merchandise trade between New Zealand and China has increased since the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was implemented, but this is a weak test of the FTA per se as virtually a...

Why do countries seek trade agreements? Despite numerous and vocal critics, virtually every World Trade Organisation (WTO) member is involved in at least one (and often numerous) F...

Zimbabwe is a landlocked developing country with a population of 14 million, sharing common borders with Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia. Zimbabwe has 14 border posts...

Over the last decade China has become South Africa’s single biggest trading partner. In this period foreign direct investment from China in South Africa grew as well. Although So...

The historically low levels of intra-African trade have made Africa vulnerable to external economic shocks and have fostered a dependency on the rest of the world. As a result of t...

‘The main reason why Africa’s people are poor is because their leaders have made this choice.’ This is the opening sentence in a recent book about poverty in Africa and what ...

The Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) between South Africa and the European Union (EU) is an important trade agreement for South Africa, as it enables preferentia...

The world’s economic and trading environments have changed since the 2010 publication of tralac’s South Africa’s way ahead: Shall we samba? In this update to that p...

The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) is a customs union, as defined by having regional free trade behind a common external tariff (CET). This creates a common customs area cov...

At present, ongoing Southern African Development Community (SADC) initiatives are underway to construct a comprehensive Industrial Policy Framework for the region. The purpose of t...

In November 2011, the South African Cabinet approved Special Missing Zones in South Africa’s Policy on Special Economic Zones to be published for public participation, and in Jan...

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) forms a part of United States trade legislation that provides non-reciprocal preferential market access to the US market for qualifyin...

During the final week of September 2012, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal handed down a judgment giving effect to aspects of an earlier ruling by the Southern African Deve...

Regional economic integration remains a viable development strategy for Africa, a continent characterised by small economies and markets. Integration of these markets can facilitat...

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has set itself very ambitious regional integration goals. There is now general agreement that more realistic goals and a better un...