- Negotiations
Since 2008, there was talk about merging the member states of COMESA, the East African Community (EAC, with five members) and the Southern Africa Development Cooperation (SADC, with 14 members). In 2011, leaders of the 26 African countries within these three existing regional economic communities announced plans to negotiate a tripartite free trade area between them which would, cover over 600 million people and an estimated US$1 trillion in trade. In June 2011 in Johannesburg governments adopted the negotiating principles, modalities for negotiations and a roadmap for negotiating such an agreement at the 2nd Comesa-EAC-Sadc Summit. The first negotiating round was held in Nairobi in December 2011 and in June 2015 the "Tripartite Free Trade Area" or #TFTA was finally signed. It now needs to be ratified by the assemblies of parliaments of each member state to come into effect.
The texts of the FTA are here: http://www.tralac.org/resources/by-region/comesa-eac-sadc-tripartite-fta.html.
This agreement is to form the precursor of a continental Africa-wide FTA or CFTA.
last update: June 2015
photo: Tahrir Institute
12-May-2015
Plans by African leaders to launch an ambitious Free Trade Area comprising of 26 countries and backed by over 600 million people next month are in the right direction for the private sector.
3-Mar-2015
East Africa Business Week
The Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) covering 26 countries will be launched in May, it has been agreed.
28-Jan-2015
Xinhua
A senior official of African Union (AU) said Tuesday the long-awaited tripartite free trade area between three regional blocs is expected to be launched in May in Cairo, Egypt.
1-Dec-2014
New Vision
Most of the clauses in the agreement — to be signed this month in Cairo — have been finalised, apart from the preamble and the rules of origin.
12-Nov-2014
Tanzania Daily News
If one takes a look at the real big winners in this project, it will soon be realized that multinational corporations mostly from Europe, North America and to some extent Asia which have set up base in Cairo, Johannesburg and Nairobi will be real winners.
28-Oct-2014
The Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA) by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will be launched in mid-December, 2014.
27-Oct-2014
APA
Three of Africa’s regional economic communities have agreed to launch the long-awaited Tripartite Free Trade Area at a joint summit of leaders from the regional groups scheduled for December in Egypt, APA learnt here Monday.
17-Aug-2014
Xinhua
Negotiations to set up a grand free trade zone encompassing 26 countries in eastern and southern Africa are progressing well and may be completed in 2015, a year before schedule, SADC officials reveal.
4-Apr-2014
ICTSD
African high-level officials indicated recently that negotiations for the establishment of a free-trade area spanning three major regional economic communities in Africa have progressed well and could conclude by the end of this year.
28-Mar-2014
Southern Times
African countries need to look at the possibility of fast-tracking the tripartite Free Trade Area if hopes of an improved intra-African trade are to be met anytime soon, according to the African Union Commission