BUSINESS AND INVESTMENT
Investment and trade
Gateway to Investing in Eswatini
The Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority (EIPA) is the entity created and mandated by the Eswatini Government to “attract, encourage, facilitate, and promote local and foreign trade and investment in Eswatini”.
EIPA’s broad and core activities include trade and investment promotion, aftercare, provision of one-stop services to both investors and traders, and policy advocacy, among others. Explore the link: https://investeswatini.org.sz/.
Support investment and trade
In collaboration with the EIPA, the following entities provide support to investors and traders alike:
- The International Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade
- Business Eswatini (https://business-eswatini.co.sz/)
- The Royal Eswatini Technology Park (https://rstp.org.sz/)
Gateway to International Trade
The economy of the Kingdom of Eswatini is export oriented. Broadly, this means that as much as achieving self-sufficiency, production and home consumption remains an optimal objective; regional and international trade are critical for industrialization, employment creation, foreign exchange, etc. and subsequently, growth and economic development.
Against the above backdrop, and in a quest to integrate into the multilateral trading system, the Kingdom of Eswatini is a member of several regional trade agreements as well as the World Trade Organization (WTO). These are characterized by affording preferential market access to its members.
This means that the goods (and services, where applicable) originating from Eswatini are granted preferences when entering countries that are members of the regional trade agreements and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Preferences afforded to Eswatini include:
- No tariffs (mainly customs duties) charged on selected goods imported by members of the regional trade agreements and the World Trade Organization (WTO), from Eswatini (duty-free market access).
- Reduced tariffs (mainly on customs duties) on selected goods imported by members of the regional trade agreements and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
- No tariffs (mainly customs duties) on selected goods imported by members of the regional trade and the World Trade Organization (WTO) and/or Eswatini permitted to send an unlimited amount of selected goods to these countries (duty-free, quota-free market access)
Preferential markets where Eswatini holds membership
Regional :
They include the Southern African Customs Union (SACU); the Southern African Development Community (SADC) – a FTA; the Common Market for Southern and Eastern Africa (COMESA) – a FTA; and the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA).
Continental :
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to promote intra-Africa trade.
International :
These include the SACU–European Free Trade Association (EFTA) – a FTA; the SACU-Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) – a FTA; the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) – a FTA; the USA African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) – PTA; and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) – a PTA.
Bilateral :
There are also bilateral arrangements Eswatini have concluded enabling goods originating from Eswatini to receive trade preferences when imported in these countries, and it includes the Economic Cooperation Agreement (ECA) with Taiwan, among others.
Multilateral :
The Kingdom of Eswatini is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), therefore, benefitting from the Most Favored Nations (MFN) principles of non-discrimination treatment principle.
The Kingdom of Eswatini has concluded special bilateral arrangements with a number of selected countries where her goods receive some preferential market access.
Note: It is important to underscore that preferences are only granted to goods that have been produced (grown, manufactured or significant value added) in the Kingdom of Eswatini. Simply put, goods produced in accordance with rules of origin (RoO) agreed by members of the trade agreements.
All information pertaining the operations of the preferential markets can be sourced from the International Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade.