Pohamba told the media upon his arrival from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit in South Africa that the launch of the FTA would set a new era of economic integration in the region.

The FTA was launched on Sunday, signalling the creation of one of the largest free-trade zones on the continent with over 250 million people.

The zone would lead to the creation of a customs union by 2010, a common market by 2015 and a monetary union by 2016.

SADC Executive Secretary Tomas Salomao said the free-trade area "required a lot of compromise to be made on a number of sensitive issues".

Member states might have to relinquish their sovereignty, he said.

"The agreement will make SADC an attractive area for doing business.

" The free-trade plan was first considered eight years ago, and required SADC member states to systematically cut tariffs on goods traded within the bloc.

By the beginning of the year, duties on 85 per cent of their trade had been abolished, meeting the World Trade Organisation's definition of a free-trade area.

All remaining tariffs are due to be scrapped by 2012.

Nampa and own reporter

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