The launch of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) by 26 African countries at the beginning of June brings together the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) and is in line with the long-standing vision of creating an African Economic Union.

It is expected that the TFTA will be a building block towards establishing the Continental Free Trade Area by 2017. The TFTA represents a consumer market of about 600 million people and about 58 percent of the continent’s Gross Domestic Product, estimated at US$1.3 trillion.

However, Minister of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development, Immanuel Ngatjizeko, yesterday warned that Namibia needs to increase its industrial capacity to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the TFTA.

“Namibia in particular places industrialisation at the centre of its development strategy, hence the need to expand our industrial base is more important now than ever,” said Ngatjizeko during a public seminar on regional and continental economic integration arrangements.

He added that his ministry is ready to work with the private sector and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to ensure that the country’s industrial strategy yields results.

Ngatjizeko added that policymakers have realised that market liberalisation alone without industrialisation and infrastructure development does not serve the economic purpose, especially in countries like Namibia whose industrial capacity is constrained and not as competitive as other countries. He said for this reason the TFTA emphasises industrialisation and infrastructure development as strategic pillars of free trade areas.

Also addressing the public seminar, director of trade in the trade ministry, Benjamin Katjipuka, emphasised that the agreement will only become operational once all outstanding issues have been ironed out. All parties involved in the agreement have consented to resolving all outstanding issues within the next 12 months.

One of the issues still to be agreed upon is the movement of business people within the TFTA. “All signatories to the agreement need to provide unrestricted, yet guided market access for business persons engaged in trade. Negotiations are still ongoing on this protocol and one of the contentious issues is who is to be considered a trader,” explained Katjipuka.

He said currently intra-Africa trade stands at about 10 percent, which is relatively low when compared to, for instance, intra-European trade, which stands at about 50 percent.

Yesterday’s public seminar was the ministry’s second this year, following an executive order by President Hage Geingob that Namibians must be well informed on all crucial issues affecting the economy at large.

The objective of the seminar was to sensitise national stakeholders on the outcome of the TFTA signed in Egypt, as well as the outcome of the AU Summit in respect of the Continental Free Trade Area. The first seminar in June this year focused on the intricacies of SADC’s Industrialisation Strategy.

Source: New Era

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