ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with the premise that any genuine economic integration depend largely on the degree and extent of common economic policies, rather than the political willingness of Preferential Trade Area (PTA) members. The PTA Treaty provides for the establishment of an Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank. The treaty shows that the PTA is a free trade area, a custom union and a development coordination entity. One of the setbacks to effective economic integration of the Eastern and Southern African countries is the multiplicity of institutions dealing with the same issues. There are possibilities of some PTA members mistaking it as an institution dealing with consumer or trade integration rather than with economic cooperation in all fields, whereas Southern African Development Coordination Conference is seen to be an organization that works to foster production.
