...African Customs Union, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, involves a least developed country (Lesotho).

Negotiations began in 2003 and lasted for more than two years. A number of complex legal and institutional issues arose due to the fact that the negotiations involved two groups of countries with divergent needs and aspirations. The talks took place against the backdrop of the WTO Doha Development Agenda negotiations (6) where many of the same issues relating to trade and development were under consideration. This did sometimes pose additional challenges for the negotiators.

The parties shared the ambition that an EFTA-SACU FTA should promote fair and equitable trade relations between developed and developing countries. From the outset in 2003, the negotiations covered a broad range of issues, such as traditional market access issues for goods (industrial and agricultural duties, technical standards, rules of origin and customs procedures and trade remedies), and services, investment, intellectual property, competition...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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