The COMESA Council of Ministers has urged Member States that signed COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area Agreement (TFTA) to start the process of ratification and those that have not signed to do so.

The Tripartite FTA was launched on 10 June 2015 in Sharm El Shiekh, Egypt, setting the stage for the establishment of a single market for the 26 African countries in the Eastern and Southern African Region. So far, 16 countries have signed the Tripartite FTA but are yet to ratify. At least 14 Tripartite Member/Partner States are required to ratify the Agreement to enter into force.

In its 35th meeting in Lusaka, Zambia this week the Council appreciated the progress made in the negotiations process that include finalizing the outstanding work in Phase I relating to Rules of Origin, elimination of import duties and trade remedies.

At the launch, Heads of State and Government directed the Member/Partner States to expedite the process towards the operationalization of the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area by finalizing outstanding issues. These included the Elimination of Import Duties, Trade Remedies and Rules of Origin, which will form part of the COMESA-EAC-SADC TFTA Agreement.

The Council encouraged Member States to ensure that the outstanding issues from Phase I negotiations are finalized within the 12 months from June 2015 as decided by the Tripartite Council of Ministers.

“Negotiations continue in parallel to Phase II negotiations covering trade in services, competition policy, intellectual property rights and other trade related issues,” according to progress report presented to the Council.

With regard to movement of business persons, the Council noted that although the negotiation process could not be finalized, it was on course on a separate but parallel track with the Phase II negotiations. A draft tripartite Agreement has been developed and more work on this track is set to continue in phase II negotiations.

The Council urged Member States to adopt more liberal provisions for the movement of business persons to facilitate trade and investment across borders.

The Council also noted that seven of the 10 annexes that contain issues under negotiation have been finalized. The outstanding issues are tariff elimination schedules (annex I) trade remedies (annex II) and rules of origin (annex IV).

“The main TFTA Agreement and the following annexes have undergone legal scrubbing: annex V on customs cooperation; annex III on non-tariff barriers; annex VI on trade facilitation; annex VII on transit trade and transit facilitation; annex VIII on technical barriers to trade; and annex IX on sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures,” the report says.

A total of 20 tariff offers have been tabled and the Tripartite Task Force is in the process of populating annex I of the TFTA Agreement based on the offers made so far.

Work on the Tripartite Dispute Settlement mechanism has also been finalized while that on trade remedies will continue as part of the Built-In Agenda.

Work on the Tripartite Industrial Development Pillar is on-going and the relevant committee has, among other things, developed the modalities for co-operation in industrial development.

As a way forward, the Council urged COMESA Member States to offer the COMESA Free Trade Area tariff concessions to other Tripartite Member/Partner States on reciprocal basis.

Further, the Council decided that private sector should take part in the Tripartite FTA negotiations.