Sustainable development and the Southern African development community - European Union economic partnership agreement

Abstract

The stated goals of international trade agreements have increasingly included provisions pertaining to the achievement of sustainable development. The thesis discusses the concept of sustainable development in the context of trade liberalisation agreements entered into in terms of Article XXIV of GATT. It explores whether the inclusion of sustainable development provisions has changed the fundamental nature of RTAs to makes these agreements development friendly. The inclusion of sustainable development in the SADC-EU EPA is of particular importance because the EU is the biggest trading partner for the SADC states. Agreements with the EU also have a disproportionate effect on their other agreements. In addition, the effects of BREXIT on the SADC EPA states will be explored. The concept of sustainable development has also been included in AfCFTA, which indicates a paradigm shift as this concept on the continent is no longer restricted to North-South agreements. It is now one of the key factors which will influence the content of intra African trade agreements. The thesis investigates the concept of sustainable development and the potential to use this concept to either encourage or stifle the economic growth of developing countries and LDCs. It also explores the adequacy of sustainable development provisions in addressing the inequalities which exist in global trade, such as the unequal capacity of states to participate in the trading system. The policy space effects of these agreements on the possibility of sustainable development occurring are discussed. The thesis draws conclusions that the inclusion of the term sustainable development does not inherently change the nature of North-South RTAs, and in some instances its inclusion can restrict the policy space available to attain sustainable development. It provides recommendation that in order to achieve sustainable development, the African continent needs to create standardised provisions for sustainable development in RTAs. A template is provided, which if used when entering into RTAs which include sustainable development will in all vii likelihood lead to fairer trade terms in the EPA agreements that the SADC states enter into.