The Southern African Improvement Neighborhood (SADC), in partnership with the European Union (EU), the United Nations Industrial Improvement Group (UNIDO), and the Worldwide Commerce Centre (ITC), formally launched the Africa Commerce Competitiveness and Market Entry (ATCMA) SADC Programme on the margins of the eighth SADC Industrialization Week held in Antananarivo, Madagascar on twenty eighth July 2025.
The €25 million EU-funded regional initiative is designed to reinforce commerce competitiveness, strengthen regional High quality Infrastructure, and enhance intra-African and Africa-EU commerce.
The ATCMA-SADC Programme was launched as a part of the eighth SADC Industrialization Week (SIW), reinforcing the strategic alignment between financial transformation, regional integration, and the Africa-EU Partnership. The launch session introduced collectively varied stakeholders together with high-level Authorities representatives, policymakers, personal sector, improvement companions and the media. The occasion additionally included intensive digital participation, facilitating broader stakeholder engagement throughout the area.
The Programme is Collectively applied by UNIDO and ITC goals to extend the competitiveness of Southern African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in high-potential worth chains by enhancing market entry, aligning merchandise with worldwide requirements, and enhancing the area’s High quality Infrastructure. By doing so, the programme will contribute to the broader targets of advancing sustainable industrial improvement, fostering financial diversification and worth addition, and rising employment alternatives within the SADC area.
The programme will place a robust emphasis on supporting women-led and youth-led SMEs, boosting financial inclusion, selling entry to finance and sustainable enterprise practices throughout the area. It can additionally facilitate the event of truthful, resilient and sustainable regional and worldwide provide chains and contributing to Africa’s deeper integration into world commerce.
The SADC element varieties a part of the broader €200 million EU-funded Africa Commerce Competitiveness and Market Entry (ATCMA) umbrella programme, which incorporates one Continental element and 5 regional elements masking COMESA, ECOWAS, EAC, ECCAS, and SADC, as a part of the EU’s World Gateway technique.
Talking on the ceremony, His Excellency David Ralambofiringa, Minister of Industrialization and Commerce of Madagascar mentioned: “The ATCMA SADC programme gives a novel alternative to develop key worth chains within the SADC area. The programme is a chance for us to strengthen the capability of our SMEs to export, diversify, add worth and compete on the worldwide stage. This isn’t merely about enhancing market entry but additionally about eradicating technical obstacles, enhancing product high quality and supporting financial actors within the area.”
The SADC Deputy Govt Secretary for Regional Integration Ms. Angele Makombo N’Tumba, highlighted that “The ATCMA-SADC Programme, supported by the European Union is a well timed and strategic initiative. It comes at an important second when SADC is intensifying efforts to implement the SADC Industrialization Technique and Roadmap (2015-2063), a cornerstone of the regional integration agenda. As we launch this essential initiative, allow us to reaffirm our dedication to a area that thrives by innovation, inclusivity, sustainability, and partnership, she mentioned.
Mr. Catalin Gherman, Deputy Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation in Botswana underscored that the excellent Commerce Competitiveness and Market Entry Programme displays the energy and depth of the long-standing partnership between the European Union and SADC and illustrates the robustness of the cooperation with the implementing companions.
He mentioned that EU is dedicated to supporting the goals of the programme, and the SADC efforts in lowering market entry obstacles, strengthening the regional and nationwide High quality Infrastructure programs, and worth chain improvement, constructing a extra built-in and affluent area.
He underlined that the Programme additionally contributes to the World Gateway Africa-Europe Funding Bundle, which goals to mobilize €150 billion in Africa to help the inexperienced and digital transformation of the continent. Catalin Gherman reiteraited the EU dedication to working intently with establishments throughout the borders and sectors to operationalise the Programme and make sure that it delivers significant and tangible outcomes on the bottom.
Mr. Diego Masera, UNIDO Consultant of the Southern Africa Regional Workplace said that SADC, the EU and UNIDO launched into a journey a long time in the past to construct a robust commerce partnership. “As we speak, we’re gathered with a shared imaginative and prescient to reinforce Africa’s commerce competitiveness and unlock market entry throughout SADC”, he mentioned. He known as for the deepening of regional integration to empower native industries, strengthen High quality Infrastructure system, enhance worth addition and diversification and create pathways out of poverty by inclusive and sustainable industrial improvement.
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ITC Director of Nation Programmes, Mr. Escipion Joaquin Oliveira Gomez underlined that for ITC, the SADC element of the ATCMA gives a strategic alternative to empower small companies within the area to play a higher position in regional, continental, and world worth chains, strengthening industrial progress, boosting productiveness, and driving the shift of regional economies in the direction of greater value-added items.
The ATCMA-SADC Programme displays a robust, joint dedication by SADC Member Staes, the European Union, and the United Nations to advance regional integration, inclusive industrialisation, and sustainable financial improvement in Southern Africa. Moreover, it helps the operationalization of the SADC Industrialization Technique and Roadmap (SISR 2015-2063) and contributes to the achievement of the SADC Imaginative and prescient 2050 and the aspirations of the African Continental Free Commerce Space (AfCFTA), the African Union Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Improvement Targets (SDGs).
