A new website ‘Trade Mark SA’ is providing a platform to discuss how to improve southern Africa’s trade performance and competitiveness for the benefit of poverty reduction in the SADC and COMESA regions.

TMSA is a DFID-funded project involved in supporting and strengthening regional integration and trade issues in Southern Africa. The programme addresses current restraints to trade and proposes solutions, helping to assist African countries and their Regional Economic Communities in order to raise higher growth rates, deepen economic integration reduce trade barriers, build better infrastructure, increase levels of investment, increase competitivenesss, expand exports to regional and international markets, and create more productive jobs for women and men.

The site offers:

• RSS: Users can subscribe to RSS feeds on topics of interest. This includes country and thematic news feeds, with the option of following a BRIC-focused news feed that is specially compiled to show all activities by the BRIC countries in the region.
• Reports: The “Seen This?” section on the home page captures new reports issues be other agencies.
• Events: The site offers a comprehensive calendar of events taking place in southern Africa month by month.
• Transport map: An interactive map shows the current transportation links throughout the region, covering roads, rail networks, ports and energy lines.

A sister project to Trade Mark SA focuses on promoting regional trade and economic integration in East Africa. Trade Mark East Africa functions throughout the EAC region, working with governments, business and civil society organisations to deepen regional integration for the benefit of East Africa’s development.