UNCTAD will hold an information and awareness building workshop for the business community and main civil society organizations in Mozambique on the application of trade defense instruments, provided for in the EU- SADC Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Mozambique has been party to SADC-EPA since 2018.

This event forms part of UNCTAD’s capacity building programme under the EU-funded project for Mozambique (PROMOVE Comércio: Building Competitiveness for Exports) to support government and private sector’s officials to prepare for the establishment and, in a second phase, the application of a trade remedies (TRs) and safeguards (SGs) regime, in accordance with EPA and WTO relevant provisions and rules. It will be organized in collaboration with the Trade Law Centre (TRALAC), a non-profit NGO based in Cape Town, South Africa.

The workshop is designed to provide an introduction to and an explanation of the main principles and procedures applicable to the use of TRs and SGs in Mozambique, with special emphasis on the preferential EU-SADC EPA Safeguards measures. It will also address Mozambican businesses’ specific challenges related to the implementation of the aforementioned EPA measures and disciplines.

At the end of this workshop the participants are expected to:

• have a general understanding of TRs and of multilateral and preferential Safeguards.
• have an overview on the basic procedures and requirements for Safeguards & TRs investigations.
• be able to anticipate how the Mozambican Trade Remedy and Safeguards regime would function.

The workshop will be attended by some 25 officials representing, in addition to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MIC) and concerned public institutions, the main business and civil society entities, including: Industrial Association of Mozambique (AIMO), Chamber of Commerce of Mozambique (CCM), Association of Women Entrepreneurs and Businesswomen of Mozambique (FEMME), Association of Small and Medium-sized Companies of Mozambique (APME), Association of Commerce, Industry and Services (ACIS), National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (ANJE), Eduardo Mondlane University (Maputo) and the Confederation of Informal Sector Associations of Mozambique (CASIMO).