Mauritius, August 12th 2004 - Do you feel that Swaziland is making progress reaching its regional goals at this gathering?

We are moving towards our regional goals in terms of the integration of the region, the solidarity and economic development of the region. Along with the attraction of foreign direct investment, intra-regional trade is very important. We are aware of global developments, such as the WTO liberalisation of trade, yet we believe that we must start by building intra-regional trade.

Swaziland is a small country with a big neighbour, South Africa. Trade is mostly directed there, so we are looking at diversifying our trade and developing our economy within the region. I believe that the solidarity and the common cause of our countries will help to develop these regional relationships.

If there is a SADC Free Trade Area in 2008, do you fear that major South African corporations will swallow up smaller companies in the region, because they will not be able to compete against them?

We are determining trade policy strategies that can benefit the region as a whole. When we open the region up to a Free Trade Area, we will extend our trading relationship beyond the scope of SACU (South African Customs Union), which can be greatly beneficial for business in any part of the SADC region.

SADC has also enabled us to negotiate as a region, with the European Union and the U.S. Although we are only small countries, together we are negotiating as a block of countries, which is beneficial to all of us.

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Has AGOA [the African Growth and Opportunity Act] been beneficial for Swaziland?

Yes, I was part of the team that travelled to the U.S. and I believe that this is an excellent development towards trade with the United States

Swaziland’s economy has only increased by 1.5% last year. What has to be done for Swaziland to grow faster?

We believe that it is time for us to improve our economic development. It is true that we are historically an agriculturally-based economy, and although we have developed a textile industry, the economy is still not growing fast enough. We have to diversity and look into other areas in order to fast-track our economy and adopt new government strategies to attract more foreign investment.

Do you believe that the SADC Summit has been helpful for Swaziland’s future development?

Yes, we are working together and numerous protocols will help support our economic development. Although certain countries are behind in their progression, we have imposed a deadline for the adoption of these protocols by February 2005 in order to speed up the growth of the region.

All in all, the Summit is being conducted very positive atmosphere. We are all trying to help each other and discuss social, political and economic issues as a community. From this we are finding new solutions to the issues that affect us all.

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