The Southern African Development Community (SADC) successfully convened a two-day meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, where representatives from Government Ministries and the Private Sector from SADC Member States identified concrete measures towards the elimination of Non-Tarriff Barriers (NTBs) that affect intra-regional trade.
The meeting which was held on 14-15 April 2026 was supported by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany through the Cooperation for the Enhancement of SADC Regional Economic Integration (CESARE) Programme, implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
Speaking on behalf of the SADC Secretariat, Mr. Cesarino Benjamim, Senior Programme Officer – Standards Quality Assurance and Measurement (SQAM), reminded participants and Focal Points of Article 3 of the SADC Protocol on Trade that calls for the elimination of barriers to Intra-SADC trade. He indicated that the many SADC structures including the Committee of Ministers of Trade (CMT) have expressed concerns on the low level of intra-regional trade mainly affected by the many NTBs imposed in the region.
At their 34th Meeting held on 05 June 2025 in Harare, Republic of Zimbabwe, CMT approved the draft NTB Annex XII Concerning Non-Tariff Barriers to the Protocol on Trade which has been submitted to the Committee of Ministers of Justice/Attorneys General for legal scrubbing before final adoption. CMT also approved the establishment of a dedicated Technical Working Group on NTBs to deal with NTBs that will report to the SADC Sub Committee on Trade Facilitation and directed the Secretariat to mobilise resources to support the speedy resolution of NTBs.
Participants considered the unresolved NTBs that were reported on the Tripartite NTB reporting mechanism that was established to assist traders and Focal Points from the three RECs, namely the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC) and SADC to report, monitor and speedily resolve NTBs in support of the objectives of the trade agreements in the RECs.
The meeting identified concrete mechanisms to resolve 52% of the reported NTBs. Member States agreed to pursue bilateral engagements to resolve the outstanding NTBs for improved trade facilitation in the SADC region.
