PREAMBLE The Governments of: The The The The The The The The The The The The The The Republic of Angola Republic of Botswana Democratic Republic of the Congo Kingdom of Lesotho Republic of Malawi Republic of Mauritius Republic of Mozambique Republic of Namibia Republic of Seychelles Republic of South Africa Kingdom of Swaziland United Republic of Tanzania Republic of Zambia Republic of Zimbabwe CONSCIOUS of their collective duty to - attain the objectives of the Southern African Development Community (SADC); achieve, amongst other things, development and economic growth; achieve complementarity between national and regional strategies and programmes; harmonise their political and socio-economic policies and plans; develop policies aimed at the progressive elimination of obstacles to the free movement of capital and labour, goods and services and of the peoples of the SADC Member States (Member States); improve economic management and performance through regional co-operation and reduce economic imbalances; RECOGNISING the need to take such steps as are necessary to maximise the cooperation of Member States in taxation matters and to harmonise the tax regimes of the Member States in accordance with Articles 21 and 22 of the Treaty of the Southern African Development Community (Treaty); DETERMINED to take such steps as are necessary to maximise the co-operation of the Member States in taxation matters; CONVINCED of the need to make sufficient own financial resources available, to enable SADC to advance the multi-facetted aspects of economic integration; HAVE DECIDED, through their duly authorised representatives, to hereby record the understanding of the Member States on the steps to be taken to co-operate in taxation matters and to harmonise the tax regimes of the Member States, as follows: 2