Regional integration will foster economic development

KEIKANTSE LESEMELA
Correspondent | Friday August 17, 2012 00:00

 

He highlighted that regional integration fosters economic development. He advised that Botswana cannot enlarge her economy without regional integration.

Phirinyane argued that an integrated regional bloc will improve trade and investment while fostering trust building among concerned countries. He warned that divergence would lead to the concentration of industry in some few countries, which may also create tension between states.

He observed that domestic economic policies run counter regional integration. He further explained that regional integration organisations lack institutional capacity for integration and international relations. The two-day conference set out to give impetus to the sustainable regional economic development of the insurance industry in the SADC region.

The conference seeks to promote regional economic integration by facilitating the creation of a framework for collaboration and cooperation amongst insurance industry bodies.  It also provides a platform for dialogue between the insurance industry and  the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) in relation to the SADC Finance and Investment Protocol, which provides for the harmonisation of insurance laws of SADC member states.

Thembi Langa, SADC senior programme officer, Finance and Investment Unit said the Protocol on Finance and Investment will promote SADC as an attractive investment destination, leading to increased levels of domestic and foreign direct investment in the region.

'Through the Protocol on Finance and Investment, SADC member states seek to foster harmonisation of the financial and investment policies in order to make them consistent with the objectives of SADC,' she said. The FIP was signed by all member states in 2007 and subsequently ratified in 2010.