The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the East African Community (EAC) bilateral tariff liberalisation negotiations have been concluded.

Launched in 10 June 2015, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) aims to establish a single market for 27 African countries with a combined population of about 700 million (57% of Africa’s population), and Gross Domestic Product above US$1.4 trillion.

Information from the SACU Secretariat office states that SACU and EAC have done their part by concluding the bilateral tariff liberalization negotiations between the two regional blocs.

The Secretariat says the conclusion of the SACU-EAC negotiations is a significant step towards realising the benefits of the whole TFTA.

The TFTA is based on three pillars, namely, market integration, infrastructure development and industrial development.

As part of the market integration, member/partner states have been engaged in bilateral tariff liberalisation negotiations.

The market access negotiations between SACU – consisting of Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa –and EAC, which consists of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda — have been successfully concluded.

As a result, the SACU-EAC private sector will thus have access to new and dynamic markets for exports as well as new sources of inputs for domestic production processes, thereby enhancing intra-regional trade. 

Furthermore, the SACU and EAC secretariats, in a joint statement released last week, said that there was emphasis on the development of regional value chains in a wide range of sectors to deepen integration between SACU and the EAC.

In the joint statement, they said the conclusion of negotiations provides an opportunity for the TFTA to be a building block and to have a coordinated approach for negotiations in the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Source: The Southern Times

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