Assessment of national mechanisms for coordination of regional cooperation and integration in Southern Africa

Abstract

Africa's regional and subregional economic cooperation and integration initiatives have come on the back of great expectations of rapid economic growth and social equity. However, the performance of economic cooperation and integration initiatives has been below expectations. This is especially true with regard to efforts to restructure the region's economies, attaining sustainable development and reducing poverty levels. Given these constraints, concerns have been growing in recent years over the different mechanisms at national level for coordination of sub-regional and regional economic cooperation and integration policies. UNECA/SRDC-SA commissioned six country case studies in Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. The overall objective of the country case studies, that were carried out by local consultants in each country, was to assess existing national mechanisms for regional economic cooperation and integration with a view to identifying gaps, if any, and establishing their effectiveness. This document is divided into six parts. Part I discusses background and rationale and methodology of the study. Part II synthesizes the six country case studies. Part III highlights current national mechanisms for coordination of regional economic cooperation and integration. Part IV contains conclusion, findings and recommendations. Part V outlines selected bibliography while Part VI contains Appendices.