Urban Assertiveness, Legal Frameworks, Informal Networks and Intercity Trade among the Cities of SADC

SECO Working Paper 22/2017 by Marius Pieterse

ABSTRACT: While both international trade law and regional trade agreements in the SADC region are typically focused on nation states, it is cities that produce the bulk of economic goods and services in the region and that, in effect, are the main actors in terms of trade agreements. Similarly, regional trade is facilitated by inter-city infrastructure, connectivity, transport routes and so forth. Indeed, both formal and informal trade in the region predominantly take place on an inter-city level, yet this is seldom perceived or structured by applicable legal regimes. Changes in the legal and/or regulatory landscape in one city may thus have regional trade implications across the region, without these visibly triggering international or regional trade laws or agreements.