Malawi moves to ratify Sadc service protocol
Malawi Government has said it will soon ratify the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) protocol on trade in services which seeks to liberalise the sector in the 14-member trade bloc.
Malawi’s Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Sam Ganda, speaking after visiting Mwanza Border on Monday, said government was committed to trade liberalisation, arguing it stimulates economic growth.
“The process of ratifying the protocol is at an advanced stage and we hope that soon we will ratify the protocol. A lot of progress has been made including consultations with key stakeholders [and] what remains now is for the President to look at it.
“Malawi as a country cannot be operating as a island and there is need to integrate in the global village. Trade integration will stimulate economic growth and development,” he said.
But commenting on the protocol, Indigenous Businesses Association of Malawi (Ibam) interim president Mike Mlombwa said government must tread carefully by ensuring that local businesses benefit.
He urged government to make thorough consultations and be cautious in both negotia-ting and implementing the protocol.
In August last year, Sadc member States approved and signed the protocol on trade in services in Maputo, Mozambique.
The objective of the protocol is to progressively liberalise intra-regional trade in services on the basis of equity, balance and mutual benefit and achieve the elimination of substantially all discrimination between State parties and a liberal trading framework for trade in services to create a single market for trade in services.
The Sadc protocol sets out a framework for the liberalisation of trade in services between Sadc member States and serves as a basis for negotiations.
The negotiations in the sector will initially focus on six key service sectors—construction, transport, energy, tourism and financial services—and eventually cover all sectors and modes of supply.
Sadc members States in the protocol note that an integrated regional market for services, complemented by cooperative mechanisms, will create new opportunities for a dynamic business sector and strengthen the region’s services capacity, its efficiency and competitiveness and expand the region’s services exports.
However, the members acknowledge the existence of asymmetry as some member States are disadvantaged by reason of the size, structure, vulnerability and levels of development of their economies.
