Egypt expects Africa’s largest free trade deal talks to complete early 2018

Africa’s three economic blocs — COMESA, SADC, and EAC are expected to complete negotiations to establish a free trade area covering 26 countries and representing more than half the continent’s GDP by early 2018, an official in the Egyptian Industry Ministry said Thursday.

The three blocs stand for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community.

The tripartite member states are comprised of 26 countries; Egypt, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

75 percent of the talks are completed so far, Saeed Abdallah, Head of Trade Agreements Sector at the Egyptian Ministry of industry, further said.

The Grand or Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) is intended to boost intra-regional trade, increase investment, and promote the development of cross-regional infrastructure in the African continent.

The TFTA will stretch from Cape Town to Cairo, creating an integrated market with a combined population of almost 600 million people and a total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of about US$1 trillion.

The deal will come into force once ratification is attained by two-thirds of the 26 member states.