South Africa became the 19th country to sign the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement in Kampala, Uganda, on Friday.
When the agreement enters into force – which will be once 14 countries have submitted their instruments of ratification – it will reduce tariffs on goods traded between the tripartite countries and create new export opportunities and regional value chains, according to Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies,
The tripartite agreement is a free trade area proposed between the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Davies said that SA had been a champion of the tripartite agreement from the beginning but had not signed at the launch in 2015 as there was “outstanding work in some of the annexures of the agreement”.
“All the annexures have been completed and adopted by the tripartite Sectoral Ministers Committee, enabling South Africa to sign the agreement,” he noted.
Tariff negotiations between the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) and the EAC are, however, still currently under way.
“The conclusion of these negotiations will be another important step forward in the process since it will provide commercial benefits to our businesspeople by enabling them to trade products between Sacu and EAC countries at a reduced or zero tariff,” added Davies.
