African states are expected to resume talks in November to iron out remaining issues in order to establish the continent’s largest trading bloc by the end of 2017, a Kenyan official has said.
Kenya’s Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives Chris Kiptoo told Xinhua last week in Nairobi that the Tripartite Free Trade Area comprising 26 countries will be formed by merging the East African Community (EAC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) trading blocs.
“All the 26 countries have agreed in principal to the free trade area and what is remaining is developing modalities to domesticate the agreement,” Kiptoo said.
He said that the Tripartite Free Trade Area aims to address the multiplicity of numerous economic blocs in Africa.
“We have cases where some Africa states belong to more than one economic bloc and this leads to duplication and wastage of resources,” Kiptoo said.
He added that the Tripartite Free Trade Area will create a trading bloc that will create a large single market that will promote intra-Africa trade and investments.
Kiptoo said that as part of efforts to promote regional integration the Southern African Customs Union and the East Africa Customs Union are expected to hold talks to agree on a common external tariff.
“Both organizations will agree on a level of trade liberalization and then develop tariff lines to implement the decision,” he added. Enditem
Source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh
