P. Ramsamy CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS FOR REGIONAL INTEGRATION STRATEGIES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA Dr P Ramsamy Chief Economist, SADC 1 Regional Integration: A Condition for Development In southern Africa, as in other parts of Africa and the world, cooperation aimed at regional integration has become an indispensable stage in the development process of developing countries. This is because successful regional economic integration can help the countries concerned to attain economies of scale, rationalise production structures, encourage specialisation in production on the basis of comparative ad­vantages, create a wider economic space, enhance industrial efficiency and reduce transport costs. As a result, a number of regional organisations have been estab­lished throughout the world to spearhead the process of regional integration. However, both in Africa and other regions, the process of regional integration is faced with numerous challenges and difficulties, not only at the conceptual and design stages, but, more specifically, in the subsequent efforts to implement the objectives expressed in the respective arrangements. Integration in Africa At the conceptual and design stages, there is usually the debate on approaches. In Africa, there were two schools of thought for the implementation of integration strategies. These were ­• the pan-African, all-embracing approach, which envisaged the immediate crea­tion of a continental economic arrangement; and • the geographically narrower approach that would focus on integration at the sub­regional levels first, building on existing subregional cooperation arrangements. In the context of that approach, integration for Africa as a whole would be tack­led during a second phase, once subregional integration was achieved. After a protracted debate, it was the geographically narrower, subregional approach that was adopted. Principles of SADC Integration For southern Africa, the basic issue is on what principles and terms integration will happen. Closer economic cooperation and integration have become no longer merely desirable, but imperative for growth, development and, indeed, survival. While it is 90