The proposed new regional economic bloc, that would merge the East African Community, Southern African Development Community (SADC) and COMESA blocs, will only see Namibian cabinet consideration when negotiations on outstanding work is finalized and the attorney general has cleared the draft agreement as well as all its components.

Namibia has indicated that it will not sign the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (TFTA) at the third COMESA-EAC-SADC tripartite summit set to take place during the second week of June in Egypt.

The TFTA is an attempt to merge the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC) and Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and has been described as a major step towards trade and infrastructure development in Africa.

The proposed integrated market involves 26 member states with a combined population of 625 million people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of US$1.2 trillion.

This week Cabinet directed the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development to coordinate national positions on the outstanding issues identified in the TFTA negotiations with the view to concluding phase 1 of the TFTA negotiations.

Cabinet also directed the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation to coordinate Namibia’s participation.

The TFTA has been hailed by many as the foundation of the Continental Free Trade Area being promoted by the Africa Union (AU) Commission and its partners.

The main reason the three regional economic communities (RECs) decided to launch the tripartite programme in 2006 was to remove some of the inconsistencies and costs in regional integration brought about through overlapping membership.

Thus, the tripartite arrangement is not a new legal structure neither is it a new REC but rather an attempt to merge the existing regional organizations into an African economic community.