Production Integration in the Southern African Development Community (SADC): The Role of Namibia’s Export Diversification Strategies

Author Bio Dr. Saima Ndapewa Nangombe is a Namibian researcher specialising in regional integration, trade policy, governance and economic development. She holds a Master’s in Governance and Regional Integration from the Pan African University and a Bachelor of Public Management from the Namibia University of Science and Technology. Her research focuses on production integration, export diversification and intra-African trade. Blurb Africa's regional integration agenda has long been linked to the goal of transforming economies that remain heavily dependent on primary commodities and external markets. Yet, despite decades of regional cooperation, many African economies continue to face limited industrial capacity, narrow export structures and weak participation in regional production networks.   Production Integration in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC): The Role of Namibia's Export Diversification Strategies from 1990–2023 examines this challenge through the case of Namibia and its position within SADC. The study explores whether export diversification can strengthen Namibia's participation in regional production networks by increasing intra-regional trade in intermediate and finished goods.   Using annual time-series data from 1990 to 2023, the study applies Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) and Vector Autoregression (VAR) techniques to examine both the short- and long-run relationship between export diversification and intra-regional merchandise trade. The findings show that export product diversification has a positive effect on Namibia's intra-regional merchandise exports in both the short and long run. At the same time, diversification reduces intra-regional merchandise imports, suggesting that a broader domestic export base may also reduce dependence on external sources of goods.