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Trade facilitation in the Southern African development community: the potential contribution of the world trade organization's trade facilitation agreement
This PhD thesis studies the facilitation of trade in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). It considers the fact that there have been several regional and international agreements that the SADC countries have entered into with the objective of alleviating trade facilitation obstacles in...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Commercial Law
2021
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| Summary: | This PhD thesis studies the facilitation of trade in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). It considers the fact that there have been several regional and international agreements that the SADC countries have entered into with the objective of alleviating trade facilitation obstacles in their region. In addition to these agreements, the states have devised national strategies to implement their regional and international commitments. However, despite all of these efforts, the effects on the easing of obstacles to trade facilitation have been minimal and the positive impact on the development of these countries predicted by mainstream trade theory is not evident. This is the first conundrum or question that this study explores. Second, while there have been several studies on the general challenges related to treaty compliance and implementation in the Southern African Development Community, few have attempted to explain why there has been poor compliance in these countries. This study uses the insights from several theoretical frameworks to illuminate this question. Third, the study reviews the World Trade Organization's Trade Facilitation Agreement and explores whether it's unique advantages may enable it to be more effective in resolving the trade facilitation challenges of the SADC member states. The study consists of a desk review of relevant academic literature, as well as an empirical study of the state of trade facilitation in the SADC region in general, and in the Kingdom of Lesotho, in particular. This entails the use of case studies and interviews with trade policy makers, trade negotiators, border officials as well as traders. The study concludes that the previous agreements suffered from inabilities to secure the compliance of state parties. In addition, the states themselves faced a plethora of domestic implementation challenges. The study observes that the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement has unique features that address the compliance and implementation issues in innovative ways. It is argued that its distinctions make it likelier to be a more successful tool for the countries in the Southern African Development Communities to use to improve trade facilitation in their region. This research is a contribution to the academic literature on trade, law and development and seeks to provide policy insights to developing country practitioners engaged in the negotiation and implementation of trade facilitation agreements. |
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