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Regi onal economic integration in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) could not only be brought about by removing tariff barriers, Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa said on Tuesday.

Mpahlwa said the countries still needed to build their productive and trade capacity, improve industry competitiveness and address supply side constraints which inhibited them from benefiting from terms of trade in the region. He was briefing the media in Pretoria ahead of the launch of the SADC Free Trade Area (FTA).

"The launch of the FTA is not an end in itself but a beginning of a process," he said.

The FTA's main objective was to phase out trade tariffs. As of January 2008, 85 percent of intra-SADC trade had been liberalised with an expectation that the further 15 percent would be realised by 2012.

"The focus... should be on addressing the real economic constraints that hinder deeper integration in our region."

Infrastructure development was also a key element. Mpahlwa said he believed the private sector had a role to play in expanding markets, improving access and integrating national and regional markets.

However, concerns remained about the impact of the outcomes of SADC's economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with the European Union, which were likely to derail integration efforts.

All SADC countries had EPAs with the EU, but in four separate configurations. In addition all the EPAs differed in their tariff liberalisation obligations to the EU.

"This will complicate the process of establishing a SADC customs union, especially agreeing on a common external tariff.

"We therefore need to re-evaluate our priorities given the challenges and endeavour to find practical solutions to deepen SADC integration," he said.

Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said integration was an important step towards releasing an African government.

"We are quite convinced that South Africa's future is inexplicably linked to the future of the continent," he said.

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