President Motlanthe to lead South African Delegation to the SADC, COMESA, EAC Summit in Uganda

Pretoria – South African President and Chairperson of SADC Kgalema Motlanthe, supported by the Minister of Trade and Industry Mandisi Mpahlwa, will today Tuesday 21 October 2008 depart for Uganda where he will participate in the tripartite meeting of SADC, COMESA and EAC scheduled for Wednesday 22 October 2008 in Kampala.

The Summit, aimed at providing a platform for the three Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to deliberate on their enhanced integration, will provide strategic and policy direction relating to cooperation on trade and economic liberalisation including options for establishing a pan-regional Free Trade Area (FTA) encompassing the three RECs and a joint programme for free movement of persons and infrastructure development.

The three regional organiations aim to alleviate poverty and to improve quality of life for the people of the Southern and Eastern African regions. As the three RECs move into deeper integration, agreement on these strategic and policy issues at the Tripartite Summit level will help mitigate challenges of multiple memberships being faced by some of the member states as well as pave the way for accelerated inter-regional economic integration.

The RECs comprise 26 countries with a combined population of 527 million people, a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$ 624 billion, and a GDP per capita averaging US$1 184.  The 26 countries make up half of the African Union (AU) in terms of membership and just over 58% in terms contribution to GDP and 57% of the total population of the African Union.

The RECs are building blocs to the African Economic Community (AEC) recognised by the African Union Constitutive Act and the Abuja Treaty.  As building blocs, the RECs are implementing regional integration programmes in trade and economic development covering establishment of Free Trade Areas, Customs Unions, Monetary Union and Common Markets as well as regional infrastructure development programmes in transport, information communications technology and energy as a first step and a contribution to the realisation of the continental integration leading to the establishment of the AEC.

From Uganda President Motlanthe is expected to proceed to Benin where he will attend the Extraordinary Summit of the African Peer Review Forum (APRF) in Cotonou.

Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853

Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001

21 October 2008