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aims of this Free Trade Area as well as assist the process of concludingEconomic Partnership Agreements with the European Union.There is good reason to be positive about the prospects for the SADCFree Trade Area despite the recent lamentable breakdown of talksin the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization. While we muststill hope that the global trade talks can be salvaged given the narrownessof the differences that need to be overcome, we should alsosee the situation as an opportunity in the sense that we should nowfocus our attention on intra-Africa trade. In this era of high foodprices, it is now, more than ever before, important to promote intra-Africa trade as a means of meeting emergency food needs and inorder to provide an incentive for increased investment in agriculturalproduction.In addition to high food prices, which threaten food security and affectpolitical stability, the world is confronted by high energy prices,which pose a serious constraint on our collective ability to move forwardon the development agenda, including achieving the MDGs. Ifwe add the negative effect of climate change to the mix, it then becomesclear that concerted efforts will be needed if this region is tomaintain current growth trends and overcome spill-over effects froman increasingly troubling global economic outlook.SADC has established a strong track record of solidarity in respondingpositively to challenges that face the sub-region in areas such aspoverty reduction, governance and confronting the challenge of HIVand AIDS. I am therefore confident that similar determination willbe brought to bear in addressing present challenges of high food andenergy prices, climate change and a potential economic downturn.ECA, and indeed the entire UN system, remains available to supportSADC efforts with regard to operationalising its FTA as well asin other areas of transboundary cooperation. In particular, we havecreated credible capacity to improve access to reliable data, which isessential for evidence-based planning and the monitoring and trackingprogress in various areas of development. Indeed, since I lastaddressed this august gathering, an African Centre for Statistics hasbeen established at ECA and it is working actively with several SADCmember States to improve their statistics and develop their nationalstatistical systems. In this context, we salute the support and en-Integrating Africa101