- 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 AfCFTA.
The TFTA came into force on 25 July 2024.
last update: July 2024
photo: Tahrir Institute
18-Jul-2016
Zambia Daily Mail
African policy makers have for a long time taken keen interest in the promotion of intra-regional trade in order to bring about development in the continent.
10-Feb-2016
Comesa Business Council
The inaugural Tripartite Regional Dialogue will ensure inclusive participation of the private sector in the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) negotiations.
28-Jan-2016
Business Day
26 African countries signed the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement. However, only three of Africa’s eight regional economic communities are participating in the TFTA.
2-Jan-2016
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Council of Ministers has appreciated the progress made so far in the negotiating process that include finalising the outstanding work in Phase 1 of the Tripartite Free Trade Area Agreement (TFTA).
13-Oct-2015
All Africa
The East African Community partner states have agreed on the outstanding trade issues under the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA).
22-Sep-2015
Lexology
TFTA states that its aims include harmonisation and improvement of regional trading arrangements, enhancement of trade facilitation.
8-Sep-2015
Swazi Observer
In a bid to eliminate possible problems associated with sugar trade in Africa’s new trade agreement, the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), sugar industries of the bloc have resolved to speak in one unified voice.
27-Aug-2015
The Chronicle
Removing tariff and non-tariff barriers to facilitate increased regional trade dominated the deliberations that buttressed the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement
9-Jun-2015
The completion of the Free Trade Area (FTA) procedures among the three African blocs, SADC, COMESA and the East African Community (EAC), depends on the unification of the rules of origin and tariff, according to Egypt’s Minister of Industry and Trade Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour.
8-Jun-2015
AFP
The Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) spanning 26 countries is to be launched at a summit of heads of state and government on Wednesday in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
