Zambia is a medium sized landlocked country in East Africa. Its land area of around three quarters of a million square kilometres (similar to Turkey, Chile and Pakistan) makes it one a medium-to-large largest countries by world standards. The reported population in 2012 was some 14.4 million (similar to Zimbabwe), while its population density of 18 inhabitants/km² gives Zambia about the same population density as North America as a bloc. The World Bank places Zambia’s GNI per capita at just $1,350 dollars.

The objective for this paper is to set the background for a discussion and analysis of Zambia and its merchandise trading background. Specifically, for the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) Zambia is expected to negotiate with only four potential partners in the TFTA region. These are Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia and Eritrea. This is a meaningless agenda, as Zambia has virtually no trade with either Ethiopia or Eritrea and very limited reported trade with Angola. Only imports of almost exclusively duty-free mineral ores from the DRC feature. With large land borders with both Angola and the DRC Zambia lives in a dubious neighbourhood and negotiating trade agreements with these two countries, neither of whom has shown any appetite or abilities to progress the TFTA, is a daunting prospect.

Readers are encouraged to quote and reproduce this material for educational, non-profit purposes, provided the source is acknowledged. All views and opinions expressed remain solely those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of tralac.