In a move that will certainly heighten regional trading and integration regionally and continentally, ministers from the regional blocs of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have endorsed the launch of a tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA).
This development arose from the recent Tripartite Sectoral Committee of Ministers in Burundi and the FTA is to be launched in December during the tripartite summit of Heads of State and Government in Egypt.
In a statement released after the meeting, the ministers released the economic configuration of the FTA saying it will encompass 26 member states from the 3 blocs, a total population of 625 million people and a GDP of $1.2 trillion which is roughly half of the membership of the African Union and 58 percent of the continent’s GDP.
“The Tripartite FTA popularly known as the Grand Free Trade Area, will be the largest economic bloc on the continent and the launching pad for the establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) in 2017. It offers significant opportunities for business and investment within the Tripartite and will act as a magnet for attracting foreign direct investment into the tripartite region. The business community, in particular, will benefit from an improved and harmonized trade regime that reduces the cost of doing business,” read the statement signed by Sindiso Ngwenya, COMESA Secretary-General and Chairperson of the Comesa-EAC-SADC Tripartite Taskforce.
Chairperson of the ministerial meeting, Chiratidzo Mabuwa, who is also the Deputy Minister of the Zimbabwean Ministry of Commerce and Industry described the agreement as a “milestone in regional and continental integration.”
In her words; “Africa has now joined the league of emerging economies and the grand FTA will play a pivotal role in the transformation of the continent. 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 region.”
All concepts of economic development in Africa point to regional integration as an important lever. The idea of “One Africa” has been in the works for decades especially because most of the continent’s markets are small and isolated by multiple trade barriers.
Regional economic blocs have a stronger voice continentally and internationally. If Africa can pool its resources together, countries that were hitherto small and weak can take bold steps on the global scene particularly in trade negotiations. With this Free Trade Area, Eastern and Southern Africa may be taking the critical first step in birthing One Africa.
By Emmanuel Iruobe
