SOUTH AFRICAN HIGH COMMISSION ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN
	South African Development community (SADC)

The SADC was formed in 1992, and now comprises South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Its establishment was preceded by the Southern African Developments Co-ordination Conference, a lose formation whose primary focus was regional security against the then belligerent apartheid regime of South Africa.

The SADC aims to establish a highly integrated economic community leading to the acceleration of trade and investment within the region itself and with the external world.

An estimated population of 180m lives within the SADC area, providing critical market mass for drawing in foreign direct investments. Despite some sceptisism about the much-vaunted gains from globalization, economies are being restructured and privitasation programs implemented.

A number of instuments to support greater intra-regional trade and investment have been developed. These include competitive tax insentives, Export Proceccing Zones, and Export Promotion Mechanisms of specific sectors such as in manufacturing, agriculture, natural resource benefication and tourism.

The SADC trade protocol, signed by all SADC members in 1996, aims to establish a low-to-zero tariff zone for most goods by 2004.

Improvements in infrastructure are underway and various Spatial Development Initiatives are aimed at the upgrading of the roads, ports, telecommunication and energy provision.There has been a positive and growing trend towards foreign investment in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), being led by South African companies. The most important sector of this investment is in mining, quarrying or metals production, followed by retail and wholesale, as the region is endowed with quality deposits in diamonds, copper, energy resources and gold, with a vast pool of human capital.

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