SADC speeding up process of creating free trade zone

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LUANDA, Aug 20 (Xinhua): Greater efforts are being made to accelerate the process of establishing a free trade zone in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Angola's official news agency ANGOP reported yesterday.
Angolan Deputy Foreign Minister George Chicoty was quoted as saying that the heads of state and government attending the 27th summit of the SADC in the Zambian capital Lusaka "have assumed a commitment of speeding up the process of creation of the regional free trade area until 2008."
Speaking at the Luanda international airport upon his arrival from Lusaka Saturday, George Chicoty said the participants at the summit strongly defended the need to speed up the process of regional integration and debated matters relating to infrastructures and their importance in regional integration.
However, he admitted that Angola will not join this process for the time being because Angola has come out of a 27-year civil war.