Effects of regional economic integration in Southern Africa and the role of the Republic of South Africa: a study of project coordination approach in industry and trade in SADCC/SADC.

The objective of this study is to demonstrate how regional policies on manufacturing and trade have performed and make a critical assessment as bend mark for future policy formulations. This study was undertaken during the democratization and political reform process actors the region in general, and in the Republic of South Africa in particular the analysis is made mainly in two phrases: in first phase assesses the former Southern African Development coordination Conference (SADCC) with South Africa as a competitive and hostile neighbor. The second part looks at the prospects of the region under the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) with the membership of the majority ruled and democratic South Africa. The study covers a period of 12 years of the existence of SADCC and touches briefly on the two years in which it transformed into a community with the acceding of South Africa to it in August, 1994. It has studied SADCC, own industrial priority sectors. It has done this in relation to 13 other industrial production. It has further studied trade development to determine whether there have been trade creative before and after integration. It has applied Balassas method of measuring effects of integration reflected in trade creation in the region through elasticities of import demand. In determining trade creation in total SADCC trade we relate aggregate import to changes to gross national product. The results industrial production have shown that in the period between 1980 and 1990, there were production increases in four sectors. These included electrical machinery, transport equipment, paper production and wood and products. The results reliable demonstrate that no measurable impact on regional industrial production growth was created as a result of SADCC’s industrial strategy. The findings further show that under its project Co-ordination Approval SADCC’s dependence from outside interms of resources was massive, especially in foreign funding and in studies carried out by foreign personnel. In the near future, South Africa might not necessarily dominate the economic life of the region though the most advanced economy of all.