EPA implementation plan launched

The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) provides duty-free, quota free market access into the European Union for exports from partner states like Namibia, subject to rules of origin and adherence to international and regional quality standards.

Namibia and five other Southern African Development Community (SADC) member States, namely Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique and South Africa signed the EPA in June 2016.

The agreement aims to boost trade and business opportunities in Namibia in order to contribute towards sustainable and inclusive economic development in the frameworks of the ACP-EU Partnership and the EU-SADC Economic Partnership Agreement. It further aims to promote regional integration, economic cooperation and good governance to establish and implement an effective, predictable and transparent regional regulatory frameworks for trade and investment between the Parties and among the SADC EPA states.

Speaking at the launch of the EPA implementation plan, Lucia Iipumbu, minister of industrialisation and trade noted that the EPA implementation plan identifies key focus areas at impact level and their specific actions to be implemented or adopted by the government institutions for an effective EPA implementation.

Firstly, the focus of the plan is to ensure an enhanced coordination and cooperation among institutions and agencies addressing aspects relevant to EPA implementation, which is spearheaded by the ministry of trade as a coordinator.

It is further focused on setting up and strengthening operations of relevant institutions involved in EPA implementation.

Thirdly, is focused on making a case for technical assistance to strengthen requisite legal, institutional and infrastructural systems for Namibia’s EPA implementation.

H.E. Sinikka Antila, EU Ambassador to Namibia noted that Europe and Africa are facing unprecedented socio-economic challenges, but also opportunities, which can only be tackled collectively by engaging public and private sector, development partners, financial institutions and civil society amongst others.

“Similarly, in terms of mobilizing resources, the demand is so huge that we need to deploy various financial instruments such as grants, technical assistance, concessional loans, blending and guarantees to manage this. The Global Gateway is EU’s contribution to narrowing the global investment gap, “she said.

Antila announced that together with the ministry of trade and the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB), they are planning to organise a Business Forum in 2023. The idea of the business forum is to bring together EU and Namibian businesses to network and explore investment opportunities around emerging economic sectors.