History has shown time and again that there are no winners in trade wars. The depreciation of EM currencies, which had started in April, worsened during the third quarter of the year. And as it worsened, much of the market commentary claimed that this was a highly correlated sell-off, despite the long-standing realisation that EMs, as an asset class, are not homogeneous.
Let me now turn my attention to another key issue that I expect delegates to discuss at this Conference. This relates to the operation of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP), which is the SADC long-term (15-Year) Strategy.