In depth

TNI meets with Sindiso Ngwenya, Secretary General of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), to discuss the much anticipated launch of the Customs Union and the signing of the Interim EPAs

One of the major obstacles to the "harmonious and favourable integration" of ACP countries in global trade is lack of governance. Contributing to global trade presupposes many requirements that several ACP countries can’t meet due to poor governance, observed both in these countries’ institutions (executive, parliament, and justice) and in international fora where global trade rules are defined.

02 October 2009 - The Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) has decided to stay optimistic and tackle the unresolved issues in the economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) as a team to try and overcome the obstacles preventing Namibia and South Africa from signing even an interim pact with the bloc. The EPA has been singled out as a priority and the Sacu Council has requested the Sacu Commission, under chairmanship of Finance Permanent Secretary Calle Schlettwein, to come up with a strategy and timelines regarding the controversial trade pact.

- Signature of ECOWAS-CE agreement on trade in goods and development cooperation (tbc)

- 1 EU-Caribbean Joint Ministerial Council, Barbados (tbc)

- 22-24 European Development Days, Stockholm

- 26-28 Pacific Forum Economic Ministers Meeting, Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Community Radio can be seen like a very social movement in Africa , radios from community for the community. They are the voice of those who doesn't have voice. The importance of these experiences has also to be underlined as they offer a great service in medical campaigns, like prevention and information about AIDS, or in rural information, like the weather and the sowing time. Their aime is to construct a democratic society based on democratic partecipation. This common idea must be realized under different legislation in the various country.

These analysys are available in the report Community Radio Social Impact Assessement - Removing Barriers, Increasing Effectiveness, AMARC Global Evaluation 2007 .

While the deadline of December for the economic regional integration exspired, the UE has raised concerns about its future effectivness. If Kenya appears to agree, other countries, like South Africa and Senegal, show a more radical position. For the World Trade Organisation and the UE the risk is that a new pan-Africanism, leaded from new reach countries, could strengthen the opposition on Doha Round leaded at the moment by Brazil and India.

Recently the African Union summit in Addis Ababa resolved that any trade dealing with Europe must be ratified by the AU, blocking countries from signing interim trade that deals with Europe (as Kenya has actually done).