COMESA-EAC-SADC
Since 2008, there has been 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.
This tripartite agreement would form the precursor of a continental Africa-wide FTA or CFTA.
last update: May 2012
Articles
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13-Aug-2012 Témoignages L’Union africaine construit une zone de libre-échange
Les États africains qui ont décidé de se réunir pour construire une zone de libre-échange à l’échelle d’un continent. -
9-Aug-2012 BAD La BAD prête à soutenir les pays africains à établir la Zone de libre-échange continentale vers 2017
La Banque africaine de développement est prête à aider les pays africains à mettre en œuvre l’infrastructure physique et immatérielle nécessaire à l’établissement de la Zone de libre-échange continentale à l’horizon 2017, a déclaré le président de l’institution, Donald Kaberuka. -
9-Aug-2012 CRI Les négociations commerciales entre le COMESA et l’Inde progressent
Les deux parties ont convenu d’étendre le champ de leurs discussions à tous les pays qui rejoindront la zone de libre- échange la plus importante d’Afrique, que doivent rallier la Communiqué d’Afrique de l’Est (CAE) et la Communauté de développement d’Afrique australe (SADC). -
9-Aug-2012 L’Expression L’Algérie se prépare à la zone de libre-échange africaine
La Banque africaine de développement est prête à aider les pays africains à mettre en oeuvre l’infrastructure nécessaire à l’établissement de la Zone de libre-échange continentale à l’horizon 2017. -
29-May-2012 African trade: Integration of economic blocs into a global player
Plans to create an African free trade area (FTA) by integrating three existing African trade blocs consisting of 26 countries by July 2014 are gaining momentum. The aim is to create a free market of 525 million people with an output of US$1 trillion making it a global player. -
20-Nov-2011 Sadc, EAC, Comesa free trade talks begin in December
First round of negotiations to establish the $1 trillion Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA) covering 27 countries in eastern and southern Africa are scheduled to start next month, the head of the taskforce spearheading the process has said. -
5-Nov-2011 Africa’s Free Trade Zone: A Pie in the Sky?
African heads of state have ambitious plans to create a free trade zone, encompassing 26 countries and more than 600 million people on the continent. But economic experts warn the project is a bold step that comes with a plethora of legal, administrative and political hurdles. Others suggest the plan might be a pie in the sky. -
2-Sep-2011 Free Trade in Africa, For Better or Worse?
It is not certain that an African free trade area will further regional integration or deepen the existing inequality between countries. -
21-Jul-2011 The tripartite FTA - Snags in Africa’s grand plan
At the Chirundu border, along the north-south transport corridor between Zimbabwe and Zambia, commercial trucks used to wait five days to get clearance. Now, they can get through in a matter of hours. -
28-Jun-2011 The ’grand’ key to Africa
It is referred to as the “Grand Free Trade Area” or the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement, and true to its name it will be one of the largest free trade areas in the developing world when it becomes a reality. The 26-nation free trade area encompassing countries from Egypt to South Africa and three existing free trade blocs will be a very important platform for countries to engage and invest. -
21-Jun-2011 COMESA, EAC, SADC start merger negotiations
Negotiations for the establishment of a grand free trade area by three African regional economic communities are scheduled to start soon following the launching of the process by a Tripartite Summit that ended last week in Johannesburg, South Africa. -
14-Jun-2011 SAPA African mega-treaty ’to funnel free-trade fortunes into SA’
The planned creation of a 26-nation African Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA) will draw industrial investment to South Africa by making it a springboard for low-duty access to other parts of the continent, trade and industry director general Lionel October said on Monday. -
4-Jun-2011 T-FTA: Devil is in implementation
Success of the grandiose Tripartite Free Trade Area will largely depend on how geared members of COMESA, EAC and SADC are to swiftly implementing agreements and trade protocols. -
23-May-2011 Need to tighten RECs
In the inaugural tripartite summit held in Kampala, Uganda in October 2008, our heads of state and government made a number of decisions, one of which was that the 26 countries that make up the COMESA-EAC-SADC tripartite should speed up the process of integration as outlined in the Lagos plan of action and as articulated by the continental body of the African union commission. -
5-May-2011 Tripartite FTA summit in June
The first summit of the envisaged Tripartite Free Trade Area (T-FTA) will be held in South Africa on June 12 where a specific roadmap and timetable for implementation of the expanded economic grouping will be announced. -
6-Apr-2011 SA to host SADC-Comesa-EAC free trade agreement summit this year
Before mid-year South Africa would host the next summit on the establishment of a Trilateral Free Trade Agreement (T-FTA) among the regional economic groupings of the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). -
8-Mar-2011 Implementation challenges will haunt Grand FTA
Implementation challenges and barriers to trade liberalization currently dogging SADC’s Free Trade Area (FTA) will continue to haunt member states in the implementation of an ambitious grand FTA encompassing COMESA, EAC and SADC. -
4-Mar-2011 SADC urges more intra-trade
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has appealed to its members to increase intra-trade in Africa. -
28-Feb-2011 E African Business Week COMESA FTA deal in final stages
As the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) continue to integrate their economies, countries are now subscribing to the block’s trading area in order to attract investment. -
23-Feb-2011 Bua News South Africa pushes for new African FTA
South Africa is pushing ahead to secure a free trade agreement between the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for East African States (Comesa).
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COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite
The COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite was established in 2005 with the main objective of strengthening and deepening economic integration of the southern and eastern Africa region.
