Plans by African leaders to launch an ambitious Free Trade Area comprising of 26 countries and backed by over 600 million people next month are in the right direction for the private sector.
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) have launched the COMESA virtual trade facilitation system (CVTFS) aimed at tracking the movement of cargo to curb illicit trade.
A senior official of African Union (AU) said Tuesday the long-awaited tripartite free trade area between three regional blocs is expected to be launched in May in Cairo, Egypt.
While bilateral free trade agreements, as a means to further the market-opening and rule-making agenda, have been globally picking up steam, there have also been parallel efforts to usher in a plethora of regional trade agreements and economic unions.
The Egyptian government expects to begin negotiations for free trade agreements with the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as with African economic blocs such as COMESA, SADEC and EALA, and to sign a deal with MERCOSUR in Latin America.