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124-714: The African Free Trade Zone ( AFTZ ) is a free trade zone announced at the EAC-SADC-COMESA Summit on 22 October 2008 by the heads of Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC). The African Free Trade Zone is also referred to as the African Free Trade Area in some official documents and press releases. In May 2012

248-678: A British push into the two Boer republics. The last stage of the war consisted of Boer guerrillas , termed "bitter-enders", who refused to lay down their arms and took several years to defeat. In early 1902, the Boers finally surrendered under the terms of the Treaty of Vereeniging , which annexed the Transvaal and Orange Free State into the Cape (forming the Union of South Africa ) in exchange for allowing

372-415: A British trust territory on Germany's defeat during World War I, London reaffirmed such grants as they existed. Few Afrikaners stayed beyond the eve of Tanzanian independence in 1961. With the retreat of European colonialism, Afrikaner communities outside South Africa and its immediate neighbours generally diminished in size and a significant number of colonists returned to their countries of origin during

496-642: A business, the right to import parts and equipment without duty, the right to keep and use foreign exchange earnings, and sometimes income or property tax breaks . There may also be other incentives relating the methods of customs control and filing requirements. The rationale is that the zones will attract investment, create employment, and thus reduce poverty and unemployment, stimulating the area's economy. These zones are often used by multinational corporations to set up factories to produce goods (such as clothing, shoes, and electronics). Free-trade zones should be distinguished from free trade areas . A free trade zone

620-733: A central bank, and a common currency thus establishing an economic and monetary union for the African Union. The three trade blocs that agreed to and make up the AFTZ, the COMESA, the EAC and the SADC, are already well-established in their own right and cover varying swathes of land, economic systems, political systems and a varied number of peoples (which includes Arabs in the North, multi-racial peoples in

744-848: A decisive defeat at the Battle of Blood River in February 1838. The voortrekkers eventually established several independent Boer republics deep in the southern African interior, the most prominent of which were the Natalia Republic , the Orange Free State , and the South African Republic (also known simply as the Transvaal ). British expansion of the Cape Colony into South Africa's interior followed

868-507: A dozen countries. The current rendition of the Cape to Cairo zone actualized by the AFTZ encompasses most of Africa, almost half of the countries (26 out of 54), more than half of the production, trade, population, land mass and resources. If it actualizes its potential and becomes a truly integrated economic union, the AFTZ could actually rival any other economic union with its vast natural resources, huge markets, young population, and great technical know-how (mostly courtesy of SADC in general and

992-464: A first language, or slightly over 5% of the total population. In the mid to late 19th century and beforehand, South African trekboers found their way into Namibia (then South-West Africa) and established colonies. A significant number even penetrated as far north as Angola during the Dorsland Trek . The South-West became a German colony during the late 19th century, and with the onset of

1116-630: A grand scale, based on the assumption that this was a prerequisite to long-term development and economic growth. The concept lost popularity when it became clear that multinational corporations financed by overseas capital, coupled with cheap African labour, were far more productive and efficient at building export-oriented economies for the benefit of the metropolitan powers. During the Great Depression , locally owned, small-scale businesses managed by individual whites suffered immense losses attempting to compete with large commercial enterprises and

1240-571: A historic step towards fulfilling our obligations under the African Union and the Abuja Treaty framework of continental integration, which recognises that Regional Economic Communities are the building-blocks for the African Economic Community." The time had come for Comesa, EAC and SADC to bring together their respective regional integration programmes to further enlarge their markets, unlock productive potential, increase

1364-495: A large number of white foreign immigrants from countries such as United Kingdom and Zimbabwe have settled in the country. For example, by 2005, an estimated 212,000 British citizens were residing in South Africa. By 2011, this number may have grown to 500,000. Since 2003, the numbers of British immigrants coming to South Africa has risen by 50%. An estimated 20,000 British immigrants moved to South Africa in 2007. South Africa

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1488-518: A member of other alliances within and without the three trade blocks. The EAC-SADC-COMESA Summit is considered historic because for the first time, since the birth of the African Union , several key building blocks of the EAC have met on how to integrate territories and moving towards deepening and widening integration within the overall Abuja Treaty for the establishment of the AEC. Further, for

1612-524: A number of African states. During the Colonisation of Africa , European settlement patterns generally favoured territories with a substantial amount of land at least 910 metres (3,000 ft) above sea level, an annual rainfall of over 510 millimetres (20 in) but not exceeding 1,020 millimetres (40 in), and relative freedom from the Tsetse fly . In contrast to Western and Central Africa ,

1736-489: A parallel decline in public infrastructure, service delivery, and consequently, their own standards of living. On some occasions the granting of independence to African states under majority rule was influenced by the desire to preempt unilateral declarations of independence or secession attempts by white nationalists. Nevertheless, Rhodesia's white minority did succeed in issuing its own declaration of independence in 1965 and later retain power up until 1979. Less successful

1860-423: A series of retaliatory raids into the northern Transvaal which forced the Boers to evacuate Swartruggens . In 1853, Transvaal President Paul Kruger signed an armistice with Tswana chief Sechele I , ending the state of war and checking further Boer expansion into Botswana for decades. A notable voortrekker community was established inadvertently near Ghanzi in 1877. Ghanzi was settled by migrating Boers from

1984-464: A sharp cleavage continued to divide Afrikaners from their English-speaking countrymen, reflecting entrenched divisions in class and culture. The former generally earned lower incomes, and never advanced far in capital, education, and influence. They were also considered to be Rhodesia's single most conservative white community, almost unanimously opposing a multiracial school system and any concessions to black Africans regarding land apportionment. With

2108-400: A single free trade area that will weld together our three regions into one," Free trade zone The World Bank defines free trade zones as "small, fenced-in, duty-free areas, offering warehousing, storage, and distribution facilities for trade, transshipment , and re-export operations". Free-trade zones can also be defined as labor-intensive manufacturing centers that involve

2232-475: A unified British policy. This policy had as its general aim the securing of a Cairo to Cape Town railway system, and colonising the upper highlands of East Africa and the whole of Southern Africa south of the Zambezi with British colonies in a manner akin to that of North America and Australasia . However, prioritization of British power around the globe in the years before World War I, initially reduced

2356-612: A universal franchise. Prior to 1994, the Afrikaner ruling party with the longest tenure in South Africa was the National Party , which was noted for introducing a strict system of racial segregation known as apartheid in 1948, and declaring the country a republic in 1961. The size of the Afrikaner population in South Africa was estimated at 2.5 million people in 1985. According to the country's 2011 census, there were about 2.7 million white South Africans who spoke Afrikaans as

2480-545: A vegetable garden to resupply its passing ships, at the Cape. Under the direction of Jan van Riebeeck , a small Dutch party also constructed a fort known as the Castle of Good Hope . Van Riebeeck obtained permission to bring Dutch immigrants to the Cape, and resettle former company employees there as farmers. The colonists were known as "vrijlieden" , also denoted as vrijburgers (free citizens), to differentiate them from bonded VOC employees still serving on contracts. Since

2604-506: A zone whose cumulative GDP is $ 379bn in 2006. COMESA was established in 1994 as a replacement for the Preferential Trade Area. It includes 20 nations, with a combined GDP of US$ 286.7bn in 2006. Among its members are Zimbabwe , Zambia , Uganda and Sudan . The EAC, the smallest of the member trade blocks in terms of GDP, had a GDP of US$ 46.6bn in 2006. The EAC-SADC-COMESA's African Free Trade Zone membership includes

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2728-546: Is a specific type of FTZ usually set up in developing countries by their governments to promote industrial and commercial exports. According to the World Bank, "an export processing zone is an industrial estate, usually a fenced-in area of 10 to 300 hectares, that specializes in manufacturing for export. It offers firms free trade conditions and a liberal regulatory environment. Its objectives are to attract foreign investors, collaborators, and buyers who can facilitate entry into

2852-574: Is impossible to verify the number of white Africans of European ancestry, as a number of African nations do not publish census data on race or ethnic origin. In 1989, the Encyclopædia Britannica editorial team estimated the size of Africa's total white population of European descent at 4.6 million, with the vast majority residing in coastal regions of North Africa or in the Republic of South Africa. The white population of Zimbabwe

2976-636: Is in Namibia , at about 150,000 or 8%, while the second-largest European population numerically is in Angola with about 200,000 people but only comprising 1% of the population. Smaller European-descended populations exist in Madagascar , Morocco , Kenya , Senegal , Tunisia , Zambia , Zimbabwe and elsewhere. Although white minorities no longer hold exclusive political power, some continue to retain key positions in industry and commercial agriculture in

3100-593: Is normally established in a single country, although there are a few exceptions where a free zone may cross a national border, such as the Syrian/Jordanian Free Trade Zone. Free trade areas are set up between countries; for example, the Latin America Free Trade Association (LAFTA) was created in the 1960 Treaty of Montevideo by Argentina , Brazil , Chile , Mexico , Paraguay , Peru , and Uruguay ; and

3224-546: Is ranked as the top destination of British retirees and pensioners in Africa. There was also a significant number of arrivals of white Zimbabweans of British ancestry, fleeing their home country in light of the economic, political problems which faced the country and persecution at the hands of the ZANU government. As well as recent arrivals, a significant number of white Zimbabweans of British descent emigrated to South Africa after

3348-660: Is still in operation today. Other free zones to note are the Kandla Free Zone in India, which started in about 1960, and the Kaohsiung Export Processing Zone in Taiwan, which started in 1967. The number of worldwide free-trade zones proliferated in the late 20th century. Corporations setting up in a zone may be given a number of regulatory and fiscal incentives, such as the right to establish

3472-435: Is the realization of a dream more than a hundred years in the making, a trade zone spanning the length of African continent from Cape to Cairo , from North African Egypt all the way to the southernmost tip of Africa in South Africa ( Cape Town ). The Cape to Cairo dream was envisioned by Cecil Rhodes and other British imperialists in the 1890s and was expressed in different contexts and versions including, but not limited to,

3596-652: Is today modern Botswana , mainly traders and ivory hunters from the Cape of Good Hope. By the mid nineteenth century, some of these itinerant Afrikaners had settled in Molepolole . In 1852, the Transvaal Boers organised a failed expedition against the Northern Tswana people which included several relatively large engagements such as the Battle of Dimawe . As a result of this raid, the Tswana launched

3720-642: The African continent . Most are of Dutch , Portuguese , British , German and French origin; to a lesser extent, there are also those who descended from Belgians , Italians , Spaniards , Greeks , and Scandinavians . The majority once lived along the Mediterranean coast or in Southern Africa . The earliest permanent European communities in Africa during the Age of Discovery were formed at

3844-568: The Cape of Good Hope ; Luanda , in Angola ; São Tomé Island ; and Santiago , Cape Verde through the introduction of Portuguese and Dutch traders or military personnel. Other groups of white settlers arrived in newly established French, German, Belgian, and British settlements in Africa over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Before regional decolonisation , whites of European ancestry may have numbered up to 6 million persons at their peak and were represented in every part of

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3968-503: The Cold War and the abandonment of colonial possessions in the face of American and Soviet pressure, the vestigial remnants of Cecil Rhodes ' vision was abruptly ended, leaving British colonists in an exposed, isolated, and weak position. Black Nationalist guerrilla forces aided by Soviet expertise and weapons soon drove the colonists into a fortress mentality which led to the break-off of ties with perceived collaborationist governments in

4092-694: The Dorsland Trek who had lost their wagons and supplies in the central Kalahari, and were forced to seek sanctuary near the water source there. After the establishment of the Bechuanaland Protectorate in the 1880s, the British colonial authorities and the British South Africa Company (BSAC) designated several parts of the region as freehold farming areas, open to white farmers of any nationality. This induced hundreds of Boer migrants to resettle there. In 1894

4216-510: The Enkeldoorn farming areas. After 1907, an increasing number of dispossessed Boers arrived in what was then the British territory of Southern Rhodesia , seeking better economic opportunities. They soon found themselves discriminated against by the other Europeans, who expressed alarm at an "invasion" of "poor Dutch" and what they described as the "human wreckage of the Union". This aversion

4340-573: The First World War a number of local Boers volunteered to serve with the imperial authorities against invading Allied troops. After that conflict left the territory under South African occupation, thousands of fresh Afrikaner migrants poured into the region to occupy available plots of prime stock-farming land and exploit untapped resources . Their government further encouraged new colonists by offering easy loans, necessary infrastructure, and more expropriated land to white newcomers. This policy

4464-559: The National Assembly . Aside from those engaged in ranching and farming, a small number of recent Afrikaner migrants have moved to Botswana in the postcolonial era to manage small businesses. As a group, Afrikaners formed 1.2% of Botswana's total population in 2009. While Afrikaners were always a small minority in Zimbabwe 's population, some did arrive with the early pioneer columns and permanently settled, especially in

4588-734: The North American Free Trade Agreement was established between Mexico, the United States, and Canada. In free trade areas, tariffs are only lowered between member countries. They should also be distinguished from customs unions, like the former European Economic Community, where several countries agree to unify customs regulations and eliminate customs between the union members. Free-trade zones have more recently been also called special economic zones in some countries. Special economic zones (SEZs) have been established in many countries as testing grounds for

4712-635: The Steelyard in London. The Steelyard, like other Hansa stations, was a separate walled community with its own warehouses, weighing house, chapel, counting houses , and residential quarters. In 1988, remains of the former Hanseatic trading house, once the largest medieval trading complex in Britain, were uncovered by archaeologists during maintenance work on Cannon Street Station. Shannon , Ireland ( Shannon Free Zone ), established in 1959, has claimed to be

4836-466: The Union of South Africa in 1910. Due to the fact that the electorate was limited predominantly to white South Africans, Afrikaners–which composed over half the white population at the time–quickly achieved political ascendancy. Afrikaners occupied the top political positions in South African government from 1910 until 1994, when the country held its first multiracial elections under

4960-408: The Union of South Africa —had passed legislation reserving a fixed percentage of land for white ownership. This allowed colonists to legitimise their land seizures and began a process that had the ultimate consequence of commodifying land in colonial Africa. Land distribution thus emerged as an extremely contentious issue in those territories with large numbers of permanent European colonists. During

5084-608: The United Kingdom and Commonwealth . The result was a series of conflicts which eventually led to a reduced presence of White Africans due to emigration and natural death. Hundreds of thousands of British-South Africans left the nation to start new lives abroad, settling in the United Kingdom, Australia , New Zealand , United States , Canada , and the Netherlands. In spite of the high emigration rates,

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5208-859: The Xhosa chiefdoms ; the following year Dutch colonists violated the border and attacked the Xhosa, sparking the bloody Xhosa Wars . Disputes between German colonists and the Matumbi and Ngoni peoples contributed significantly to the Maji Maji Rebellion of 1905–07. During the same period, Colonial Kenya 's European residents were largely responsible for provoking a revolt by the Masai . White settlers wielded enormous influence over many colonial administrations; for example, they often occupied influential positions on elected legislatures and held most of

5332-480: The 1950s, black Africans owned about 13.7% of the land in South Africa and a little under 33% of the land in Southern Rhodesia . An inevitable trend of this factor, exacerbated by high rates of population growth, was that large numbers of black farmers as well as their livestock began to be concentrated in increasingly overcrowded areas. Before 1914, colonial governments encouraged European settlement on

5456-427: The AFTZ is an important step in the integration of African economies and the eventually union of the continent. With the great uncertainty in the global economy following the food and energy price increases and, more recently, the upheavals in the financial markets, Motlanthe suggested that the advent of the AFTZ could not have been any more timely. While African and other developing countries had marginal influence over

5580-481: The African Free Trade Zone agreement will help intra-regional trade and boost growth. The AFTZ is considered a major step in the implementation of the AEC, an organization of African Union states establishing grounds for mutual economic development among the majority of African states. The stated goals of the AEC organization include the creation of free trade areas, customs unions, a single market,

5704-509: The African Free Trade Zone, consisting of 26 countries with a GDP of an estimated US$ 624bn (£382.9bn). It was hoped that the African Free Trade Zone agreement would ease access to markets within the AFTZ zone and end problems due to several of the member countries in the AFTZ belonging to multiple regional groups. The African Free Trade Zone announced at the EAC-SADC-COMESA Summit (also known the AFTZ Summit and Tripartite Summit) effectively

5828-519: The African continent where its trading fleets could obtain fresh water and other supplies while en route to the Orient. Dutch ships began calling at the Cape of Good Hope as early as 1595, since the shoreline was not treacherous and fresh water could be easily obtained by landing parties without venturing too far inland. In 1651, the company built a storage facility and watering station, which included

5952-430: The African continent. Few of these expatriates came to immigrate permanently, and typically worked in the colonies for a short period before returning to Europe. This made them less embedded in the economy and social structure, less interested in influencing local politics, and less likely to form cohesive communities than the colonist populations elsewhere. In most of colonial Africa, Europeans accounted for under 1% of

6076-683: The Alternative Site Framework (ASF) should be considered. The ASF may be an appropriate option for certain Foreign-Trade Zone projects, but the decision of whether to adopt the new framework and what the configuration of the sites should be requires careful analysis and planning. Regardless of the choice to expand the FTZ project, the sites should be selected and the application drafted in such a manner as to receive swift approval while maximizing benefit to those that locate in

6200-468: The BSAC made a concentrated attempt to recruit Boers from the Transvaal and Orange Free State to settle the area around Lake Ngami . This was an attempt to control the large numbers of wandering trekboers in both regions by diverting them into territory already under British control rather than risk them establishing new Boer republics further abroad. The British also hoped that a large Boer population along

6324-614: The Boer migration within the subsequent decades; in 1843 Britain annexed the Natalia Republic , and in 1877 it annexed the Transvaal . The Transvaal Boers subsequently went to war with the British in 1880, which became known as the First Boer War . The war was resolved with the Pretoria Convention , by which Great Britain restored independence to the Transvaal and withdrew from the territory. However, relations between

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6448-511: The Boer republics and the British administration at the Cape remained poor, with the latter concerned that Boer independence was a lingering threat to the Cape's strategic security. In 1899, the Second Boer War broke out when the British rejected an ultimatum by the Transvaal to remove its military presence from the latter's borders. The first stages of the war consisted of several unsuccessful Boer sieges of British colonies, followed by

6572-468: The British launched another invasion of the colony as a result of political developments in Europe and became permanent. Relations between the new colonial leadership and the Boers soon began to deteriorate when the British refused to subsidise the Cape Colony, insisting that it pay for itself by levying larger taxes on the white population. In addition to raising taxes, the British administration abolished

6696-514: The East and South, including significant numbers of Africans of European descent , Asian Africans, including Indians, Chinese and other Asian groups as well as Colored Africans—mixed race Africans numbering millions in South Africa). Many of the membership of the three AFTZ member trade blocks overlap with several countries being a member of more than one of the AFTZ member trade blocks as well as

6820-449: The Republic of South Africa in particular). In addition to eliminating duplicative membership and the problem of member states also participating in other regional economic cooperation schemes and regional political and security cooperation schemes that may compete with or undermine each other, the African Free Trade Zone further aims to strengthen the AFTZ block's bargaining power when negotiating international deals. Analysts believe that

6944-530: The UAE. In these Free Zones, investors benefit from maintaining full business ownership and receiving tax exemptions. Some of the benefits of setting up business in UAE Free Zones are: Some Free Zones in UAE are: Kuwait's free trade zone (FTZ) was formally established in 1999 to expand businesses and lure the export industry. The zone was located in the western part of the commercial port of Shuwaikh . It

7068-399: The United States have recently been making use of the flexible opportunities offered by the Alternative Site Framework (ASF) program. The ASF program is designed to serve zone projects that want the flexibility to both attract users/operators to certain fixed sites but also want the ability to serve companies at other locations where the demand for FTZ services will arise in the future. FTZ 32

7192-548: The United States, the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (FTZB), established under the Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ) Act of 1934, is led by the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of the Treasury . In January 2009, the Foreign-Trade Zones Board adopted an FTZ Board staff proposal to make what it called the Alternative Site Framework (ASF) as a means of designating and managing general-purpose FTZ sites through reorganization. The ASF provides Foreign-Trade Zone grantees greater flexibility to meet specific requests for zone status by utilizing

7316-428: The VOC had been forced to declare bankruptcy and the Dutch government assumed direct responsibility for the Cape in 1794. After Napoleon 's occupation of the Netherlands during the Flanders Campaign , Great Britain captured the Cape Colony to prevent France from laying claim to its strategic harbour. Although the Dutch authorities were permitted to administer the Cape again for a brief interlude between 1803 and 1806,

7440-494: The Zone. Successful zone projects are generally the result of a plan developed and implemented by individuals who understand all aspects of the FTZ program. The FTZB approves the reorganization of Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) 32 under the alternative site framework. The application submitted by its grantee, the Greater Miami Foreign Trade Zone was approved and officially ordered by the FTZB on January 8, 2013. From California to Oklahoma, North Carolina, and New York State, FTZs all across

7564-424: The administrative policies of their respective metropolitan countries. Some lost their sense of identification with Europe and created their own nationalist movements, namely in South Africa and Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe ). Permanent white residents were regarded as an increasing liability by colonial administrations as they sought to dominate their adopted African homelands. They were also likely to involve

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7688-435: The arrival of a number of Boer exiles from Angola, who had departed that territory due to disputes with the Portuguese colonial government there. Most of the Boers were engaged in cattle ranching, using the vast, unpopulated lands around Ghanzi as a massive range to drive their herds. For a number of years, one of Botswana's most prominent white politicians was Christian de Graaff , who represented Ghanzi's southern district in

7812-495: The burgher senate, the only Dutch-era form of government at the Cape. It also took measures to bring the Boer population under control by establishing new courts and judiciaries along the frontier. Boer resentment of the British peaked in 1834, when the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 was passed, outlawing slavery throughout the British Empire. All 35,000 enslaved people registered with the Cape governor were to be freed and given rights on par with other citizens, although in most cases

7936-449: The colony became localised in their loyalties and national identity and regarded the colonial government with a mixture of apathy and suspicion. In the early 1700s, this emerging class of people began identifying as Afrikaners , rather than Dutch subjects, after their adopted homeland. Afrikaners who settled directly on the colony's frontiers were also known collectively as Boers , to describe their agricultural way of life. In 1769,

8060-409: The continent. An exodus of colonists accompanied independence in most African nations. Over half the Portuguese Mozambican population, which numbered about 200,000 in 1975, departed en masse because of discriminatory economic policies directed against them. In Zimbabwe, recent white exodus was spurred by an aggressive land reform programme introduced by late President Robert Mugabe in 2000 and

8184-527: The continent; between these two extremes, disease and the tropical climate precluded most permanent European settlement until the late nineteenth century. The discovery of valuable resources in Africa's interior and the introduction of quinine as a cure for malaria altered this longstanding trend, and a new wave of European colonists arrived on the continent between 1890 and 1918. Most European colonists granted land in African colonies cultivated cereal crops or raised cattle , which were far more popular among

8308-416: The decades which followed the Second World War. Although there were small British colonies along the West African coast from the 18th century onwards, mostly consisting of trading posts and castles, British colonisation of Africa began in earnest only at the end of the 18th century, in the Cape of Good Hope . It gained momentum following British annexation of the Cape from the Dutch East India Company, and

8432-437: The decisions that had brought the international financial system to the brink of collapse, unjustifiably, the poor and vulnerable of these countries would bear the brunt of the economic downturn. "It is imperative that effective remedial measures are developed to mitigate the negative impact of the crises, and developing countries must now be included in the governance of international financial institutions," Motlanthe said. At

8556-443: The discriminatory practices of the colonial authorities, which devoted more public funding to their education and technical training. For example, in Tanganyika , the colonial authorities were estimated to have allocated up to twenty-six times more funding per year for white schools than black schools. In most of colonial Africa, local whites sought employment with foreign companies, often in technical or managerial positions, or with

8680-416: The domestic government pays part of the initial cost of factory setup, loosens environmental protections and rules regarding negligence and the treatment of workers , and promises not to ask payment of taxes for the next few years. When the taxation-free years are over, the corporation that set up the factory without fully assuming its costs is often able to set up operations elsewhere for less expense than

8804-783: The emerging states. Consequently, some African governments have made a concerted attempt to retain sizable white communities in the interests of preserving their capital and much-needed technical skills. A few colonies had no permanent white populations at all, and in such cases the European powers preferred to construct forts and trading posts rather than large settlements accordingly. Transient administrators and soldiers were posted there initially as deterrents to rival governments attempting to effectuate treaties concerning land and other resources with local African populations. Their numbers were sometimes bolstered by civilian expatriates employed as missionaries, public servants, or employees of large transnational companies with headquarters located aside

8928-458: The ensuing Rhodesian Bush War and Zimbabwean independence under Prime Minister Robert Mugabe by 1980, over one-fifth of white Rhodesians, including most resident Afrikaners, emigrated from the country. During and following the Boer Wars some Afrikaners chose to leave South Africa. The first 700 Afrikaner colonists that migrated to British East Africa were supporters of the British during

9052-409: The establishment of European colonies in Africa, and a slow abandonment in the overall British ruling and common classes for a separate European identity, large colonial appendages of European separatist supporters of continued colonial rule were well entrenched in South Africa, Rhodesia, and Kenya. In keeping with the general trend toward non-European rule evident throughout most of the globe during

9176-476: The fertile uplands (often called the " White Highlands ") of British East Africa (in Kenya). Most of these colonies were not planned by the British government, with many colonial officials concluding they upset the balance of power in the region and left the long-established British interests vulnerable. Cecil Rhodes utilized his wealth and connections towards organizing this ad hoc movement and colonisation into

9300-530: The first "modern" free trade zone. The Shannon Zone was started to help the city airport adjust to a radical change in aircraft technology that permitted longer range aircraft to skip previously-required refueling stops in Shannon. It was an attempt by the Irish government to maintain employment around the airport so that the airport would continue to generate revenue for the Irish economy. It was hugely successful and

9424-578: The first Export processing zones in 1988, aiming to fight the unbalances in the country. First EPZ area in operation was located near of the Port of Pecém in Ceará . Companies in these areas are benefited from tax exemptions and incentives at the ICMS Tax (State Value-Added Tax). Some Brazilian states offer other regional incentives. Companies also can take advantage of a Foreign exchange treatment supported by

9548-406: The first time a truly transcontinental union came into being, ranging from the north to the south of the continent. The AFTZ (EAC, COMESA and SADC) currently have a combined population of 527 million and combined GDP of US$ 625 billion. In size and capacity, the AFTZ rivals most trade blocks. The SADC is the largest of the AFTZ member trade blocks and covers a population of some 248 million people and

9672-518: The following countries: The AFTZ Summit, also referred to as the Tripartite Summit was opened and attended by six African heads of state representing the member trade groups. Attending the opening session on Wednesday were presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda , Paul Kagame of Rwanda , Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe , Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa, Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Kenya's Mwai Kibaki . The AFTZ Tripartite Summit

9796-465: The following ideals: Cape to Cairo Road, Cape to Cairo Railway, Cape to Cairo Telegraph, and Cape to Cairo Trade Union. While other powers, notably Germany and Portugal had colonies or spheres of influence in the Cape to Cairo trade zone contemplated, the primary benefactor of the Cape to Cairo union would have been the Great Britain and British Empire . The biggest difference in the idea of

9920-461: The former Boer republics some form of political autonomy and granting financial assistance to aid in postwar reconstruction. The postwar years saw the dramatic rise of Afrikaner nationalism , as many of the former Boer military leaders turned to politics and came to dominate the legislatures of the Transvaal and Orange Free State. An Afrikaner party was also elected for the first time in the Cape Colony in 1908. Afrikaner politicians heavily promoted

10044-402: The frontiers of Bechuaneland would serve as a potential buffer to German colonial expansionism from the west. From 1898 until the early 1900s, a small but steady stream of Boers began trekking towards Lake Ngami from South Africa, with the vast majority concentrating around the previously established Afrikaans-speaking community at Ghanzi. In 1928, the size of Ghanzi's population was bolstered by

10168-559: The funds to travel there. The abolition of slavery, along with Boer grievances over taxation and the perceived Anglicisation of the Cape judiciary, triggered the Great Trek : an eastward migration of 15,000 Boers determined to escape British rule by homesteading beyond the Cape Colony's frontiers. The Great Trek brought the migrating Boers, known as voortrekkers , into direct conflict with the Zulu Empire , upon which they inflicted

10292-488: The government in conflict with Africans, which required expensive military campaigns and inextricably damaged relations between the latter and the metropolitan powers. This was a common trend throughout African colonies from the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries. In the Dutch Cape Colony for instance, governor Joachim van Plettenberg demarcated the territory's boundaries around 1778 with approval from

10416-538: The idea was extended to also include ECOWAS , ECCAS and AMU . In June 2015, at the African Union Summit in South Africa , negotiations were launched to create a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) with all 55 African Union states by 2017. The leaders of the three AFTZ trading blocks, COMESA, EAC, and SADC, announced the agreement, with the aim of creating a single free trade zone to be named

10540-687: The immigrants rather than managing the tropical plantations aimed at producing export-oriented crops such as rubber and palm oil . A direct consequence of this preference was that the territories with a rainfall exceeding 1020 mm developed strong plantation-based economies but produced almost no food beyond what was cultivated by small-scale indigenous producers; drier territories with large white farming communities became more self-sufficient in food production. The latter often resulted in sharp friction between European colonists and black African tribes as they competed for land. By 1960, at least seven British , French , and Belgian colonies —in addition to

10664-506: The implementation of liberal market economy principles. SEZs are viewed as instruments to enhance the acceptability and the credibility of the transformation policies and to attract domestic and foreign investment. The change in terminology has been driven by the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which prohibits members from offering certain types of fiscal incentives to promote the exports of goods, thus why

10788-971: The import of raw materials or components and the export of factory products, but this is a dated definition as more and more free-trade zones focus on service industries such as software, back-office operations, research, and financial services. Free-trade zones are referred to as "foreign-trade zones" in the United States (Foreign Trade Zones Act of 1934), where FTZs provide customs-related advantages as well as exemptions from state and local inventory taxes. In other countries, they have been called "duty-free export processing zones," "export-free zones," "export processing zones," "free export zones," "free zones," "industrial free zones," "investment promotion zones," "maquiladoras," and "special economic zones". Some were previously called "free ports". Free zones range from specific-purpose manufacturing facilities to areas where legal systems and economic regulation vary from

10912-440: The indigenous peoples rather than the progressively independent colonist populations. In direct opposition to the growing tide of African nationalism, whites of European descent in colonies such as Algeria began to forge new nationalist identities of their own. Attitudes towards rapid decolonisation among individual white African communities were hardened by fears of irresponsible or incompetent postcolonial governments, coupled to

11036-560: The law that created the EPZ and proximity of Custom authorities with offices inside the EPZ. China has specific rules differentiating an EPZ from a FTZ. For example, 70% of goods in EPZs must be exported, but there is no such quota for FTZs. The world's first-documented free-trade zone was established on the Greek Island of Delos in 166 BCE. It lasted until about 69 BCE when the island

11160-469: The levels of intra-Africa trade, and enhance developmental prospects. "As a next step in expanding regional markets in Africa, the process we launch today will place us in a stronger position to respond effectively to intensifying global economic competition and will begin to overcome the challenges posed by multiple memberships of regional organisations. "Let us therefore take the necessary decisions to work systematically and with determination to establish

11284-484: The lower costs of black labour (South Africa being the sole exception to the rule, as its white businesses and labour were heavily subsidised by the state). Unlike other former colonies such as those in the Americas and Australia , Europeans and their descendants on the African continent never outnumbered the indigenous people; nevertheless, they found ways to consolidate power and exert a disproportionate influence on

11408-418: The milder, drier climates of Northern , Eastern , and Southern Africa thus attracted substantial numbers of permanent European immigrants. A modest annual rainfall of under 1020 mm was considered especially suitable for the temperate farming activities to which many were accustomed. Therefore, the first parts of Africa to be populated by Europeans were located at the northern and southern extremities of

11532-573: The minor boundary modification process. The theory of the ASF is that by more closely linking the amount of FTZ-designated space to the amount of space activated with Customs and Border Protection, Zone users would have better and quicker access to benefits. When an FTZ grantee evaluates whether or not to expand its FTZ project in order to improve the ease in which the Zone may be utilized by existing companies, as well as how it attracts new prospective companies,

11656-454: The normal provisions of the country concerned. Free zones may reduce or eliminate taxes, customs duties, and regulatory requirements for registration of business. Zones around the world often provide special exemptions from normal immigration procedures and foreign investment restrictions as well as other features. Free zones are intended to foster economic activity and employment that could occur elsewhere. An export-processing zone ( EPZ )

11780-530: The northward migration of Boers was met by a southward migration of Xhosa , a Bantu people which laid claim to the Cape region north of the Great Fish River . This triggered a series of bloody frontier conflicts which raged until 1879, known as the Xhosa Wars . Both the Boers and Xhosa organised raiding parties that frequently crossed the river and stole livestock from the other group. Meanwhile,

11904-403: The original Cape to Cairo zone and its current incarnation is that the African Free Trade Zone is the creation of African Countries for the mutual benefit and development of the AFTZ member countries, their peoples and the whole of continent of Africa rather than a trade zone for the benefit of Great Britain. Ultimately, it is hoped the AFTZ would serve as a key building block to African Unity and

12028-448: The parallel collapse of that country's economy. In Burundi , the local white population was blatantly expelled via a decree issued by the post-colonial government upon independence. The African country with the largest population of European descendants both numerically and proportionally is South Africa , where white South Africans number 4.3 million people (9% of the population). The second-largest European population proportionally

12152-577: The population, except for the colonies in Northern and Southern Africa, which had the highest proportion of European colonists. There are 4.5 million white South Africans. Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Namibia all have white communities numbering in the tens of thousands, and thousands more are scattered among Angola, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Congo, Senegal, Gabon, and beyond. Many hold onto their British, Portuguese, German, French or Italian citizenships, but most have been on this continent all their lives. It

12276-470: The primary purpose of the Cape colony at the time was to stock provisions for passing Dutch ships, the VOC offered grants of farmland to the vrijburgers on the condition they would cultivate crops for company warehouses. The vrijburgers were granted tax-exempt status for twelve years and loaned all the necessary seeds and farming implements they requested. The VOC initially had strict requirements which

12400-471: The prospective vrijburgers had to fulfill: they were to be married Dutch citizens, of good character, and had to undertake to spend twenty years at the Cape. During the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, however, many foreigners were amongst those who boarded ships in the Netherlands to settle in the Dutch sphere. As a result, by 1691 a third of the vrijburger population of the fledgling colony

12524-475: The public service. The exception were those colonies with large white farming populations, such as Kenya and Southern Rhodesia. The white residents there were likelier to form their own business communities and invest heavily in the economies of their adopted homelands. The advent of global decolonisation ushered in a radical change of perspectives towards European settlement in Africa. Metropolitan governments began to place more emphasis on their relations with

12648-591: The realization of a united Africa under the auspices of the African Union . Another important difference between the original and current ideal is that the AFTZ encompasses an area greater than the one even Cecil Rhodes could have imagine. The original Cape to Cairo idea in Cecil Rhodes' time and now under the AFTZ is a free trade zone spanning the whole continent from Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo in Egypt. Cecil Rhodes' Cape to Cairo would have involved at most

12772-436: The resources appropriated toward colonisation. World War I and the Great Depression and the general decline of British and European birthrates further hobbled the expected colonist numbers. Nonetheless, thousands of colonists arrived each year during the decades preceding World War II, mostly in South Africa, where the birthrates of British Africans increased suddenly. Despite a general change in British policy against supporting

12896-579: The same time, it was necessary to work towards a more equitable global trade regime that put the concerns of developing countries, including African countries, at its centre. He also urged that the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), the Eastern African Community (EAC), and Southern African Development Community (SADC), increase co-operation towards greater integration. "The process we embark upon today marks

13020-400: The senior administrative posts in the civil service. Due to the relative poverty of most black Africans, whites of European ancestry also controlled the capital for development and dominated the import and export trade as well as commercial agriculture. They often represented a disproportionate percentage of the skilled workforce due to much higher educational attainment. This was heightened by

13144-483: The slavers could retain them as paid apprentices until 1838. Many Boers, especially those involved in grain and wine production, had enslaved people at the time, and the number of people they had enslaved correlated greatly to their production output. The British government offered preexisting slavers compensation for the freeing of enslaved people, but payment had to be claimed in person in London , and few Boers possessed

13268-538: The subsequent encouragement of migrating colonists in the Eastern Cape in an effort to consolidate the colony's eastern border. In the late 19th century, the discovery of gold and diamonds further encouraged colonisation of South Africa by the British. The search for gold drove expansion north into the Rhodesias (now Zimbabwe, Zambia , and Malawi ). Simultaneously, British colonists began expansion into

13392-969: The taxes to be paid, giving it leverage to take the host government to the bargaining table with more demands, but parent companies in the United States are rarely held accountable. Political writer Naomi Klein has also criticized the transient nature of FTZs, noting the factory closures connected to the 1997 Asian financial crisis . She criticized the low wages and long hours, citing workdays of twelve or more hours in Indonesia, Philippines, Southern China, and Sri Lanka circa 2000. White Africans White Africans of European ancestry refers to citizens or residents in Africa who can trace full or partial ancestry to Europe . They are distinguished from indigenous North African people who are sometimes identified as white but not European. In 1989, there were an estimated 4.6 million white people with European ancestry on

13516-463: The term Export Processing Zone (EPZ) is no longer used with newer zones. For example, India converted all of its EPZs to SEZs in 2000. In 1999, there were 43 million people working in about 3,000 FTZs spanning 116 countries and producing clothes , shoes , sneakers , electronics , and toys . The basic objectives of economic zones are to enhance foreign exchange earnings, develop export-oriented industries, and generate employment opportunities. In

13640-565: The underdeveloped Portuguese territory, joined by new Afrikaner migrants in 1893 and 1905. By 1928, however, the South African authorities arranged to have 300 such households repatriated to Outjo , where they settled comfortably into farming. The few Afrikaners who remained fled their homes during Angola's subsequent colonial and civil wars . In the early 20th century a number of Afrikaners trekked into German Tanganyika , where they were parceled land by colonial authorities then attempting to boost agricultural production. After Tanganyika became

13764-528: The use of Afrikaans , a language derived from the Middle Dutch dialect spoken by the colonial vrijburger population, as a fundamental part of Afrikaner identity and national consciousness. In 1908 and 1909, a constitutional convention was held for the establishment of a self-governing dominion which incorporated the old Boer republics into a unitary state with the Cape Colony and the Natal. This emerged as

13888-467: The various conflicts. This first wave settled in the fertile Rift Valley . The community founded the colony of Eldoret in 1903 and played an important part in establishing agriculture in the region. An additional 100 Afrikaners arrived in 1911. At the height of British rule in the colony, the population composed of several thousand Afrikaners farming 2,600 square kilometres (1,000 square miles) around Eldoret. The Mau Mau Rebellion sparked great panic among

14012-470: The white community in the country and much of the Afrikaner community left the country and mostly returned to South Africa. However some continued to farm in the region long after independence, and were very successful in doing so. There were originally around 2,000 Afrikaners in Angola, descendants of those who had survived Namibia's unforgiving Dorsland Trek. For fifty years they formed a distinct enclave in

14136-889: The world market for some of the economy's industrial goods, thus generating employment and foreign exchange". Most FTZs are located in developing countries ; Brazil , Colombia , India , Indonesia , El Salvador , China , the Philippines , Malaysia , Bangladesh , Nigeria , Pakistan , Mexico , the Dominican Republic , Costa Rica , Honduras , Guatemala , Kenya , Sri Lanka , Mauritius , and Madagascar all have EPZ programs. In 1997, 93 countries had set up export processing zones, employing 22.5 million people, and five years later, in 2003, EPZs in 116 countries employed 43 million people. In Brazil, 25 Export-Processing Zones have been authorized in 17 states, and 19 of them have been implemented. Brazilian government launched

14260-421: Was about 170,000 square kilometers; about six times the area of the Netherlands. The vast size of the colony made it almost impossible for the VOC to control the vrijburger population, and the colonists became increasingly independent. Attempts by the company administration to reassert its authority and regulate the vrijburgers' activities was met with resistance. Successive generations of colonists born in

14384-678: Was an attempted coup d'état by white Mozambicans in 1974, which was forcibly crushed by Portuguese troops. White rule in South Africa ended with the country's first non-racial elections in 1994 . A white flight phenomenon accompanied regional decolonisation and to a lesser extent, the termination of white minority rule in Rhodesia and South Africa. A considerable reverse exodus of former colonials returning to Western Europe occurred; because they had controlled key sectors of many African economies prior to independence, their abrupt departure often resulted in devastating economic repercussions for

14508-726: Was attended by the following Heads of State and Government: The following Plenipotentiaries represented the Heads of State and Government of the following countries: The following officials represented their organisations at the Tripartite Summit: Also in attendance were chief executive Officers of the President Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa speaking in Kampala , Uganda , at a meeting of Africa's three regional economic communities, argues that

14632-599: Was condemned by elements in the South African press, which charged that "the settlement of Afrikaners in Rhodesia is being emphatically worked against". During World War I, the Maritz Rebellion in South Africa caused consternation among Rhodesian authorities, prompting them to conclude that their colony's Afrikaner inhabitants could not be relied upon against the German Empire . In the following decades

14756-606: Was founded in 1979 and processes over $ 1 billion in goods with products from more than 65 countries and exported to more than 75 countries worldwide with speed and efficiency. According to the official order from the FTZB, FTZ 32 existing site 1, Miami Free Zone, will be classified as a magnet site. Due to growing business opportunities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the UAE government has introduced 'Free Zones' to make it easier for foreigners to invest and operate in

14880-534: Was generally considered a success, as South-West Africa's white population more than doubled between 1913 and 1936. Current estimates for the Afrikaner population in Namibia range from 60,000 to 120,000; they continue to make up the majority of the country's white citizens. 45% of the best ranging and agricultural land is presently owned by Namibians of European background, mostly Afrikaner ranchers. As early as 1815, individual Afrikaners had begun to arrive in what

15004-581: Was much higher in the 1960s and 1970s (when the country was known as Rhodesia ); about 296,000 in 1975. This peak of around 8% of the population in 1975 dropped to possibly 120,000 in 1999, and had fallen to under 50,000 people by 2002. In the late sixteenth century, the Dutch East India Company (known more formally as the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie , or VOC) began routinely searching for sites on

15128-472: Was not ethnically Dutch. The heterogeneous European community included large numbers of German military recruits in the service of the VOC, as well as French Huguenot refugees driven into overseas exile by the Edict of Fontainebleau . As the size of the vrijburger population expanded, the colonists began expanding deeper into the interior of Southern Africa ; by 1800 the size of the fledgling Dutch Cape Colony

15252-621: Was overrun by pirates. The Romans had many civitas libera , or free cities, some of which could coin money, establish their own laws, and not pay an annual tribute to the Roman Emperor . These continued through at least the first millennium CE. In the 12th century, the Hanseatic League began operating in Northern Europe and established trading colonies throughout Europe. These Free Trade Zones included Hamburg and

15376-501: Was the only free trade zone in the country. In 2019, the Council of Ministers cancelled the free-zone, leaving Kuwait without a special economic zone. Aberdeen Group research published in 2013 noted that best-in-class companies make strategic use of free-trade zones as a means of reducing inbound trade costs, shortening import timescales, and optimising the balance of their corporate sourcing and operational activities. Sometimes

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