INDUSTRY AND TRADE
The Gateway
The Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority (EIPA) is the entity created and mandated by the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini to “attract, encourage, facilitate, and promote local and foreign trade and investment in Eswatini.” It is committed to provide relevant investment and trade information including key reasons why invest in Eswatini and incentives offered to propel your investment. It also provides essential information on markets for your products including a wide range of preferential markets and how to access them.
Preferential market access
The Kingdom of Eswatini is a member of several trade arrangements at the :
- Bilateral;
- Regional;
- Continental; and
- Multilateral levels.
Goods (and services, where applicable) originating from Eswatini when entering (imported into) countries that are members of the above trade arrangements (exports) are granted trade preferences that may result in :
- Reduction of tariffs charged on agreed import products.
- No (zero) tariffs charged on imports (duty-free market access).
- No tariffs charged on imports and permitted to enter the preferential markets in unlimited quantities (duty- and quota-free market access).
Important Note :
Preferential market access is only granted on goods that have been produced in the Kingdom of Eswatini in accordance with the rules of origin (RoO) agreed by all Member States.
Eswatini’s membership to preferential markets
Regional
- SACU : The Southern African Customs Union (5 members)
- SADC : The Southern African Development Community (16 members)
- COMESA : The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (21 members)
- TFTA : The Tripartite Free Trade Area (29 members)
Continental
- AfCFTA : The Continental Free Trade Area (54 members)
Transcontinental
- EU-SADC EPAs : The Economic Partnership Agreements between the European Union (and its Member States) and members of the SADC-EPA States
- AGOA : The African Growth and Opportunity Act
- SACU-MERCOSUR PTA : The SACU-Southern Common Market Preferential Trade Area
Multilateral
- WTO : The World Trade Organization
Other
The Kingdom of Eswatini has also concluded special bilateral preferential arrangements with a number of selected countries including the Taiwan-Eswatini Economic Cooperation Agreement, among others.
Support
The following entities work closely with the EIPA to provide support to investors and traders alike. The following are links to access relevant entities involved in investment and trade facilitation :
- Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority : https://investeswatini.org.sz/
- Eswatini Trade Information Portal (ETIP : https://www.eswatinitradeportal.com/
- Business Eswatini (BE) : https://www.business-eswatini.co.sz/
- Royal Eswatini Technology Park (RSTP) : https://rstp.org.sz/
The Eswatini International Trade Fair (EITF)
The Kingdom of Eswatini hosted its first trade fair on the 31 August to 7 September 1968 in Manzini, then Bremersdorp, at the show grounds. The show was organized by the Manzini Town Board, as part of the independence celebration. The Fair exhibited and attracted international blaze, thus several countries showed interest to showcase their goods and services. Participating countries: The Netherlands, USA, West Germany, Republic of China in Taiwan, Portugal, South Africa and Mozambique, among others.
It was then referred to as the Swaziland Independence Exhibition and considered as the best and largest agricultural and cultural show. Since then, the Trade Fair has been held annually, an event where Emaswati convene to showcase their goods and services. The EITF attracts exhibitors from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states, including South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania, among others. It also attracts companies from Eswatini’s trading partners in Southeast Asia; the Republic of China on Taiwan and Vietnam as well as Australia and Europe, among others.
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