The Yearbook 2009 provides important information on the status and development of regional integration in the southern African subcontinent. From 2000 to date, the Yearbook was intended – and has indeed served – not only as an essential source of well-researched information for academics and politicians alike, but it also stimulates constructive debate on regional integration and its potential to propel SADC – and even the continent itself – into the future with additional impetus.