Southern African trade ministers have pledged to sign a significantly scaled down economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) before the end of 2010. Could this be the conclusion to years of divisive negotiations? It was a mere sentence in the draft minutes of the meeting of Southern African Development Community (SADC) ministers in Gaborone on Jun 17: "Ministers noted the strategy proposed by senior officials aimed at concluding an inclusive EPA by the end of 2010."