SADC SUMMIT 2019: Invest in infrastructure, Sadc told

Dar es Salaam. The Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) wants the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) to increase its investments in infrastructure as a way to promote intra-African trade, particularly in the economic bloc.

Data from the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) show Tanzania’s total intra-Sadc trade declined by 3.5 per cent to about Sh3.6 trillion in 2017 compared to the preceding year.

Bakhresa Group corporate affairs director Hussein Sufian says the infrastructural challenge was impeding exportation of locally manufactured products.

Bakhresa exports wheat flour, ice-cream, juice and soda to various Sadc countries, DR Congo being its major export market among Sadc member states.

“We grapple with the connectivity challenge when it comes to transportation of our products, which in turn raise transportation costs,” he said.

Mr Sufiani says, for instance, road transport was too costly to exporters who wished to take their goods to Angola.“It is high time Sadc invested more in air and railway transport,” he opined.

Bakhresa Group of Companies is also known for having significantly invested in Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa

“We are trading in those countries in the name of Bakhresa Grain Milling,” he said.

He points out that their investments in the Sadc bloc, including Tanzania, have created direct and indirect jobs, hovering around 6,000 and 6,500.

CTI policy specialist Frank Dafa says co-operation in investment makes it easier to invest across borders and make the region more attractive to foreign direct investments.

The Sadc member states have committed to coordinating their investment regimes and cooperating to create a favourable investment climate throughout the bloc. “The removal of trade barriers plays a vital role in intra-regional trade and development,” said Mr Dafa.

Major Tanzania imports from Sadc include motor vehicles, maize seeds, gas, iron sheet, lubricants, beer, apples and sugar, of which most originate from South Africa, Zambia, Mauritius and Malawi, according to the Economic and Operations Annual Report for the year 2017/18 ending June 2018 of the central bank.

Speaking recently in Morogoro during journalist’s seminar ahead of 2019 Sadc Summit, ambassador Herbert Mrango, said the Sadc trade protocol was the basis of the establishment of a free trade area in the region.

The 39th head of states and governments of the Sadc summit is scheduled for Dar es Salaam in August 17 and 18, with Tanzania expected to take up the chairmanship of Sadc.

The services sector in the Sadc region is characterised by moderate investment, comparatively high costs and limited access to services by the general public.

“The signing of Protocol on Trade in Services by Sadc Heads of State (in August 2012) provides for a mandate to progressively negotiate removal of barriers to the free movement of services,” Mr Mrango told journalists.

He said going by the treaty, priority areas of interventions aim at removing technical and administrative barriers, addressing problems of small markets and reducing cost of infrastructure.

“This is meant to enhance trade and promote inter-state participation of private sector investment,” noted Mr Mrango, adding: “The move is eventually meant to reduce over-dependence on external markets to Sadc.”

The former permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister in Charge of Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Uledi Mussa, said the economic benefits expected from the bloc, include increased market size. The population size of Sadc’s member states stands at over 300 million people. Other benefits are improved intra-regional trade and investment flows, and increased transfer of technology and experience.

“Through the establishment of a Sadc common market, the overall goal of economic development and regional integration is to facilitate trade,” notes Mr Mussa.It also meant to establish competitive and diversified industrial development, to increase investment, and eradicate poverty. Colonel Wilbert Ibuge said the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) is the most current and comprehensive strategic guiding document for Sadc. This details the region’s priorities, strategic and specific objectives as well as outputs.