Africa’s largest free trade area to launch in December
Containers at the port of Mombasa. Members of three main trading blocs in Africa have agreed to launch the continent’s largest free trade area. PHOTO | FILE
Delegates from 26 countries of three main trading blocs in Africa have agreed to launch the continent’s largest free trade area in December during their Heads of States Summit in Egypt.
The Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA), comprising the East African Community (EAC); the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), aims to boost intra–regional trade, increase foreign investment and promote the development of cross-regional infrastructure.
The Tripartite FTA, popularly known as the Grand Free Trade Area, will have a combined population of 625 million people and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD 1.2 trillion.
It will account for half of the membership of the African Union and 58 per cent of the continent’s GDP. It will be the launching pad for the establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) in 2017.
Speaking on Saturday at the close of the Tripartite Sectoral Committee of Ministers meeting in Burundi’s capital Bujumbura, Chiratidzo Iris Mabuwa – the Chairperson of the Ministerial meeting – hailed the agreement to launch the Grand FTA as a milestone in regional and continental integration.
“We have made significant progress in negotiations on trade in goods, and we now need to expedite negotiations on trade-related areas, including trade in services, intellectual property and competition policy to ensure equity, among all citizens of the wider regions,” she said.
Ms Mabuwa said the Grand FTA would play "a pivotal and catalytic role" in the development of the African continent.
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