Key deadline looms in EPA talks

A market access regulation giving SADC states, including Botswana, duty and quota-free access to the European Union is expected to elapse soon, potentially squeezing the affected states out of the world's biggest market for beef, minerals, textiles and other products, BusinessWeek has learnt.

However, Botswana, will fall back on a 2009 interim Economic Partnership Agreement (iEPA) it signed with the EU, which will limit the potentially devastating effects of losing the EU market.