Private sector key to regional integration agenda

By : Tawanda Musarurwa – BH24
HARARE – Private sector players in the SADC region should foster greater ties with their respective governments to ensure the effective implementation of the industrialisation and regional integration agenda.Presenting a paper during the MEFMI annual research and policy seminar, principal economist in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Ms Cresncia Gapare said regional integration will be difficult to achieve without private sector participation.

“Governments should actively engage the private sector to participate in SADC issues and negotiations, since these sectors are crucial in boosting intra-SADC trade by encouraging participation of non-state actors in SADC issues,” she said.

She said this in the broader context of indications that SADC member states are too disparate economically to achieve an ‘Optimum Currency Area’ (OCA).

An OCA is basically a geographical domain where countries have either a single currency or fixed their exchange rates against each other’s currencies for current and capital transactions.
Ms Gapare said participation of the private sector in regional issues will be critical in creating a climate that regional integration can thrive.

“This will expedite the implementation of necessary steps to the formation of the SADC OCA, which will in turn result in substantial financial flows into the region,” she said.

The SADC region is currently in the process of implementing the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap (2015 – 2063), whose primary focus is economic transformation of the region through industrialisation, modernisation, skills development, science and technology, financial strengthening and deeper regional integration.