By Bahle Gama
Eswatini is one of the 14 countries that will be trading seamlessly as the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the East African Community (EAC) merger into a seamless market will take effect on Thursday, July 25.
According to the Director of Trade and Customs at the COMESA Secretariat in Lusaka Christopher Onyango, in a statement, after ratifying a Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement, at least 14 countries will trade freely within East, Central, and Southern Africa.
The agreement flattens the EAC, SADC, and COMESA into a single commerce bloc.
This follows the submission of instruments of ratification by 14 out of the 29 partner states making up the Tripartite, thus meeting the threshold required for the TFTA to enter into force.
The Tripartite offers full liberalisation of tariff lines and elimination of non-tariff barriers to trade.
The Tripartite configuration also presents best practices in fostering transport and trade facilitation instruments and value chain development at regional levels which are key to boosting intra-African trade.
Under the market integration pillar, the Tripartite has a more ambitious tariff liberalisation schedule compared to the African Continental Free Trade Area the world’s largest free trade area bringing together the 55 countries of the African Union and eight regional economic communities to create a single market for the continent.
Whereas the latter’s level of tariff liberalisation ambition is 90 per cent for non-sensitive products, seven per cent for sensitive products, and three per cent for exclusion list, the tripartite level of ambition is 100 per cent tariff liberation.
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“Except for general and specific security exemptions of which 60 per cent to 85 per cent of tariff lines are to be liberalised upon entry into force of the agreement and 15 per cent to 40 per cent of the remaining tariff lines are to be negotiated within five to eight years.”
Countries that have ratified the agreement include Eswatini, Botswana, Burundi, Egypt, Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa and Zambia.
According to Onyango, Malawi, Lesotho, and Angola are the latest member states to ratify the agreement making it 14 countries.
“This means that member states can start trading, but technical things have to be put in place before they can begin trading freely,” he said.
Ratification by other countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania is pending, and Onyango emphasised that in a significant way, it addressed the problem associated with membership in multiple regional economic communities.
He further stated that among the key challenges hindering the operationalisation of the TFTA is the absence of a dedicated secretariat and institutional structure to coordinate and implement its programmes and activities.
“Presently, coordination is being conducted on a rotational basis among the three RECs. Therefore, the first thing the Tripartite will have to do is come up with a regional headquarters to coordinate its activities,” said Onyango.
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The other challenge, he said, has been acute financial constraints, adding that inadequate financing seriously slowed down negotiations of the various pillars as the RECs rely on their respective staff to facilitate the negotiations.
He elaborated further that now, only the market integration pillar is being supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
“This also explains why progress in negotiations in the infrastructure and industrial development pillars are slower, yet they are key in fostering sustainable trade and development,” explained Onyango.
The COMESA – EAC – SADC TFTA, which was signed in 2015 comprises 29 countries representing 53 per cent of the African Union Membership, more than 60 per cent of continental GDP (US$1.88 Trillion; in 2019), and a combined population of 800 million.
