Africa Focus: African leaders set to ink deal to launch free trade area

African leaders from three economic trading blocs are set to sign a tripartite agreement on Wednesday ahead of the launch of the proposed continental wide free trade area.

Africa's regional economic bodies, East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), will be the building blocks of the Africa free trade area whose instruments to launch of the Tripartite Free Trade Area will be signed in Egypt.

Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto left the country on Tuesday to join Heads of States and Governments during the third tripartite summit of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), EAC and SADC.

Ruto, who will be representing President Uhuru Kenyatta, said the aim of the meeting is to make it easier for movement of goods, people and services among African countries.

"The meeting will witness the signing of Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement that will bring together member countries to promote economic and social development in the region by creating a single market with free movement of goods and services," Ruto said in a statement before his departure.

He said the agreement will require member states to, among other things, expedite the process towards operationalization of the COMESA-EAC-SADC tripartite Free trade Area by removing bottlenecks to trade.

"Member countries will also be required to finalize outstanding issues and commence phase two negotiations covering trade in services, cooperation in trade and development, competition policy, intellectual property rights and cross border movements," he said.

The countries will be asked to cooperate on customs matters and implement trade facilitation measures.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will take over as chairperson of the Tripartite Summit, a seat currently held by President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

The ministers and their representatives from the 26 countries in the three economic communities have also finalized the program that will guide the Tripartite Heads of State and Government in launching the grand Free Trade Area on Wednesday.

Trade experts have described the launch of the tripartite as a giant step in the integration agenda that will enable the achievement of the African dream of a continental Free Trade Area.

States that will sign the Tripartite Agreement will therefore initiate the legislative process of ratification while those that do not sign will be given a specific timeframe to do so. The agreement will come into force once ratification is attained by two thirds of the 26 States.

The launching of the TFTA is the first phase of implementing a developmental regional integration strategy that places high priority on infrastructure development, industrialization and free movement of business persons.

In order for the Tripartite FTA to realize inclusive and equitable growth, officials agree on the need for expeditious formulation and implementation of a regional industrial program.

The business community, in particular, will benefit from an improved and harmonized trade regime, which reduces the cost of doing business as a result of elimination of overlapping trade regimes due to multiple memberships.

The FTA was originally endorsed at the Tripartite Summit of Heads of State and Government in Johannesburg in June 2011. The tripartite will create a single market of approximately 600 million people and account for about 58 percent of the Africa's Gross Domestic Product.

The enlarged FTA will include Libya, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros, Seychelles, Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland. Endi