EFTA-Southern Africa trade pact comes into force

A trade pact between wealthy countries in northern Europe and developing nations in southern Africa entered into force on Monday, the European Free Trade Association said. The agreement links EFTA members Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), comprising South Africa and its neighbours Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.
The deal, EFTA's first with sub-Saharan Africa, gives SACU immediate free trade in goods with EFTA, while SACU members will dismantle tariffs on goods from EFTA progressively by 2014, it said in a statement. EFTA's exports to SACU in 2007 totalled $850 million, and it imported $1.6 billion of goods.