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  1. Negotiations

TFTA

Since 2008, there was 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 and in June 2015 the "Tripartite Free Trade Area" or #TFTA was finally signed. It now needs to be ratified by the assemblies of parliaments of each member state to come into effect.

The texts of the FTA are here: http://www.tralac.org/resources/by-region/comesa-eac-sadc-tripartite-fta.html.

This agreement is to form the precursor of a continental Africa-wide FTA or AfCFTA.

The TFTA came into force on 25 July 2024.

last update: July 2024
photo: Tahrir Institute

Negotiations on the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement are moving forward
4-Apr-2014     ICTSD
African high-level officials indicated recently that negotiations for the establishment of a free-trade area spanning three major regional economic communities in Africa have progressed well and could conclude by the end of this year.
Tripartite FTA: Answer to poor intra-African trade
28-Mar-2014     Southern Times
African countries need to look at the possibility of fast-tracking the tripartite Free Trade Area if hopes of an improved intra-African trade are to be met anytime soon, according to the African Union Commission
Zuma says Eastern, Southern Africa moving toward Free Trade Area
3-Feb-2014     Bloomberg
Twenty-six eastern and southern African nations are making progress toward agreeing on a free trade area that will create a market with nearly 600 million people and combined gross domestic product of $1 trillion, South African President Jacob Zuma said.
Tripartite FTA soon a reality
17-Jan-2014     Southern Times
Three regional economic communities in Africa -- COMESA, EAC and SADC -- are expected to sign an agreement this year to establish an enlarged market covering 26 countries in eastern and southern Africa.
Slow progress in Africa free trade talks
27-Aug-2013     Business Day
Negotiations between three trade blocs in Africa to create a free trade area were running behind schedule in terms of reaching their 2014 deadline but were nevertheless progressing, South Africa Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said last week.
Call to speed up African Tripartite FTA negotiations
12-Mar-2013     Tax News
The Government of Zambia has called on the three African regional economic communities (RECs) -- the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) -- to speed up their free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations.
Experts support Uganda’s decision to join COMESA FTA
21-Nov-2012    
Economic experts have supported the recent decision taken by the government of Uganda to join the COMESA FTA, saying it would increase the volume of Ugandan exports to the COMESA FTA and promote the country’s economic growth.
African countries plan single trading bloc
23-Oct-2012     Daily News
The President of the African Organization for Standardization maintains that SADC, ECOWAS and EAC will continue to exist alongside the new African Free Trade Area.
Regional blocs seek to remove trade barriers
29-Sep-2012    
Three regional economic communities (Recs) have taken the lead as Africa seeks to remove trade barriers by 2017.
African trade: Integration of economic blocs into a global player
29-May-2012    
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.