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Africa's tripartite free trade deal urged to be ratified quickly

Xinhua, December 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

A tripartite free trade agreement signed in June by three African regional blocs was urged to be ratified quickly, according to the outcome of a meeting of Council of Ministers of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) received on Monday.

The tripartite free trade agreement was launched in June this year by COMESA, the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Egypt.

But the COMESA Council of Ministers has expressed misgivings that a number of countries have not even signed the agreement while those that signed it have not ratified.

"The Council of Ministers has urged member states that signed the COMESA-EAC-SADC tripartite free trade agreement to start the process of ratification and those that have not signed to do so," the ministers said in a communiqué issued after the meeting held in Lusaka, the Zambian capital.

According to the communiqué, 16 out of the 26 countries from the three regional blocs signed the agreement but have not ratified it.

While appreciating the progress made in the negotiation process that includes finalizing outstanding work in phase one related to rules of origin, elimination of import duties and trade remedies, the ministers urged member states to ensure that outstanding issues are finalized.

The ministers further urged member states to adopt more liberal provisions for the movement of business persons in order to facilitate trade and investment across borders.

The launch of the tripartite free trading agreement makes it the largest economic bloc on the continent and paves the way for the establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) in 2017.

The tripartite free trading arrangement encompassing 26 countries from the three regional blocs, with a combined population of 625 million people and a gross domestic product of 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars, accounts for half of the membership of the African Union and 58 percent of the continent's gross domestic product. Endit