Hon Speaker and hon Bheki Radebe, South Africa has and continues to promote deepening regional integration in Southern Africa as an essential component of our wider international economic relations.
Our approach is founded on two arguments. Firstly, South Africa's stability, security and economic development cannot be assured if the region continues to confront underdevelopment, instability, poverty and also marginalisation.
Secondly, regional economic co-operation and integration offered an opportunity for regional industries to overcome the limits of small national markets and will achieve economies of scale and enhance competitiveness as a platform to participate in the global economy. We do need to acknowledge advances that have been achieved in the integration agenda.
In 2008, under the Southern African Development Community, SADC, Trade Protocol, SADC achieved the status of a Free Trade Area wherein 80% of goods are traded freely in the region. We are also continuing to work on the rules of origin, regional standards and trade facilitation that could consolidate the gains made in opening our regional trade.
However, in our view, the single most serious constraint to a more equitable and balanced flow of trade in the region remains underdeveloped production structures across SADC economies. In this context, South Africa has and will continue to advance a work programme which focuses on regional industrialisation and economic diversification.
Regional industrial policies that expand and diversify value-added production are necessary prerequisites to ensure that SADC countries are able to take advantage of market openings at the regional level. I thank you.