Malawian vice president Justin Malewezi has called on banks to play their part in efforts to create a Southern African free trade area.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of Ministers meeting in August, Malewezi said that economic integration in the region has so far been achieved through informal trade.

This had already stimulated some economic growth in Southern Africa and some benefits had already accrued to SADC members, including lower commodity prices, improved product availability and cross-border employment opportunities.

Challenges

Malewezi is now calling for the building of more formal structures to boost regional trade and economic integration. "The challenge for SADC is to create market incentives that will encourage the private sector to engage in wealth-creating exchanges across borders," he said.

He also said this challenge would only be successfully met with improved availability of financial resources and instruments, notably a more comprehensive banking network able to provide letters of credit. This he said would create a financial sector that could meet private sector needs.

Malewezi also called for the free movement of labour across the region to reduce income disparities among the SADC member states of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.