Some of the identified main challenges to regional integration included the following: . A lack, within SADC, of a parliamentary structure with enforcement capacity. . SADC is still a cooperative rather than a rules-based entity. The latter was regarded as the best mechanism for success. . Legal and political institutions must be in place. . The Secretariat of SADC is not a supra-national body, and member states have to own the decisions of the institution and implement them. . Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo are key strategic countries, the fact that they are not part of the Free Trade Area (FTA) means that the FTA is sub-optimal. . SACU has opened its markets, which is a good development. . Some countries do not fulfil their trade facilitation and liberalisation obligations as set out by the SADC collective: o Malawi: Only 46 per cent of tariff offer liberalised; o Zimbabwe: has been granted derogation, annual reductions to resume; o Tanzania: unilaterally introduced a 25 per cent tariff on sugar and paper products; and o Mozambique's offer on tariff reductions with South Africa will be completed in 2015. . Intra-SADC trade flows are still quite low. . Non-diversified range of goods and services persists. . Vertical integration in production is still lacking. . Tariff barriers, non-tariff barriers, supply-side constraints, inadequate trade and insufficient production-related infrastructure need to be addressed.