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Angola not ready to join SADC Free Trade Zone immediately

19 Aug 2007

Angola`s deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, George Chicoty, on Saturday said that the heads of state and government attending the 27th summit of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) in Lusaka, Zambia, assumed a commitment of speeding up the process of creation of a regional free trade area until 2008.

Commenting on the immediate integration of Angola in the free trade zone, George Chicoty said Angola will not join this process now, because the country has come out of a long war, so it is currently involved in repairing important infrastructures and concluding the government`s programme on macroeconomic reforms.

The official added Angola has already informed SADC about this stand, which has been understood and accepted by the other members of the regional organisation.

During the meeting, Angola was elected to assume the presidency of the organ responsible for defence, police and regional security, as well as presented the country`s contingent for the SADC Standby Brigade.

George Chicoty was speaking at Luanda`s "4 de Fevereiro" International Airport, shortly after his arrival from Lusaka, where he participated on August 15-16 in the mentioned summit, in which Angola was represented by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

According to Mr. Chicoty- who highlighted the engagement of participants to achieve a sustainable social and economic development- the participants strongly defended the need to speed up the process of regional integration, which caused the creation of a special session to debate matters relating to infrastructures and their importance in regional integration.

The meeting debated issues like gender, as well as appealed for women`s development and promotion.

SADC was created in 1992 and comprises of Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Swaziland and Malawi.

Resource: www.angolapress-angop.ao
Released on: 19 August 2007