On 22 October 2008, at the Tripartite Summit, Heads of State and Government of the member states of COMESA, EAC and SADC agreed to establish the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA). The TFTA strives to improve the economic and social welfare of the citizens of the Member States through the advancement of regional economic growth by creating an enabling environment for intra-TFTA trade. The achievement of this objective is premised on the three main pillars of the TFTA: market integration, infrastructure development, and industrial development. The pillar on infrastructure development seeks to promote interconnected, integrated, and seamless infrastructure networks that facilitate enhanced movement of goods, services, knowledge and people.

This Trade Brief looks at the SADC-COMESA-EAC regional and trade facilitation progress and developments under the TFTA’s Tripartite Transport and Transit/Trade Facilitation Programme (TTTFP). This is extended to equally cover the TTTFP’s complementary trade facilitation flagship programme in the making – the Corridor Trips Monitoring System (CTMS).

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