Since the early 1990s many countries in sub saharan africa have made significant progress in opening their economies to external competition through trade and currency liberalization this paper analyzes trade and policy developments for 22 countries in eastern and southern africa looks at regional and multilateral integration issues and reflects on the main challenges these countries face . This paper analyzes trade and trade policy developments for a number of countries in the eastern and southern african region referred to here as esa during the 1990s 1 it consists of three main parts a descriptive one sections ii v an analytical one section vi and a normative one section vii. This occasional paper analyzes trade and trade policy developments in the countries of eastern and southern africa during the 1990s covering regional and multilateral integration issues and the interaction between trade policies and macroeconomic conditions it also discusses the main challenges these countries face as they enter a new decade. Since the early 1990s many countries in sub saharan africa have made significant progress in opening their economies to external competition through trade and currency liberalization this paper analyzes trade and policy developments for 22 countries in eastern and southern africa looks at regional and multilateral integration issues and reflects on the main challenges these countries face . Since the early 1990s many countries in sub saharan africa have made significant progress in opening their economies to external competition through trade and currency liberalization this paper analyzes trade and policy developments for 22 countries in eastern and southern africa looks at regional and multilateral integration issues and reflects on the main challenges these countries face