SAfrica signs tripartite free trade area agreement

South Africa signed an agreement establishing the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) in Kampala, Uganda on Friday, during a meeting of the tripartite Sectoral Ministers Committee, the department of trade and industry said.

The department said that the meeting was attended by the trade ministers and officials from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), and Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The department said that South Africa did not sign the agreement at that stage “since there was still outstanding work in some of the annexures to the agreement”.

“All the annexures have been completed and adopted by the tripartite Sectoral Ministers Committee, enabling South Africa to sign the agreement.  This TFTA represents an integrated market of 26 countries with a combined population of 625 million people and a total gross domestic product (GDP) of $1.6 trillion,” the department said.

“South Africa is 19th country to sign the agreement. The agreement will enter into force once 14 countries have submitted their instrument of rectification. Egypt recently became the first country to rectify the agreement. Once the agreement enters into force it will reduce the tariffs on goods traded between the tripartite countries and new opportunities for exports as well as regional value chains.”

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said that South Africa has been a champion of the tripartite process from the beginning and committed to the process.

Davies said South Africa was pleased that it is in a position to sign the agreement and that South Africa, as part of Southern African Customs Union (SACU), participated in the negotiations to finalise the bilateral tariffs commitments.

“The conclusion of these negotiations will be another important step forward in the process since it will provide commercial benefits to our business people by enabling them to trade products between SACU and EAC countries at a reduced or zero tariff,” Davies said.