Tripartite summit leaders append their signatures

Written By:PPS ,    Posted: Mon, Jun 13, 2011

President Mwai Kibaki, President Bingu Wa Mutharika of Malawi (R) and PM of Lesotho Pakalitha Mosisili (L) sign the declaration launching negotiations for the establishment of the tripartite free trade area

Heads of State and Government of member countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the East African Community (EAC), on Sunday signed the declaration launching the negotiations for the establishment of the COMESA-SADC-EAC Tripartite Free Trade Area.

President Mwai Kibaki appended his signature on behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of Kenya during the summit whose Theme is Deepening COMESA-EAC-SADC Integration.

After the signing ceremony, the leaders issued a joint communiqué where they stated that they have launched negotiations for the establishment of an integrated market of 26 countries with a combined population of nearly 600 million people and a total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) approaching US $ 1.0 trillion.

They noted that the region makes up half of the African Union (AU) in terms of membership and just over 58% in terms of contribution to the GDP and 57% of the total population of the African Union.

In this connection, the leaders attending the summit said the establishment of the Tripartite Free Trade Area will bolster intra-regional trade by creating a wider market, increase investment flows, enhance competitiveness and develop cross-regional infrastructure.

The leaders adopted a developmental approach to the Tripartite Integration process that will be anchored on three pillars namely: Market Integration based on the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA); Infrastructure Development to enhance connectivity and reduce costs of doing business as well as Industrial Development to address the productive capacity constraints.

The leaders agreed that the Tripartite Initiative is a decisive step to achieve the African Vision of establishing the African Economic Community envisioned in the Lagos Plan of Action and Final Act of Lagos of 1980, Abuja Treaty of 1991 as well as the resolution of the African Union Summit held in Banjul, the Gambia, in 2006 that directed the African Union Commission and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to harmonize and coordinate policies and programmes as important strategies for rationalization.

In this connection, the leaders also adopted the Roadmap Establishing Free Trade Area and the Tripartite FTA Negotiating Principles, Processes and Institutional Framework.  They further directed that a roadmap be developed for the industrialization pillar.

The Tripartite Summit also reviewed the progress made in the implementation of the decisions of the First Tripartite Summit held in Kampala, Uganda on 22^nd October 2008, regarding programmes in trade and customs and economic integration; free movement of business persons and infrastructure development amongst the three Regional Economic Communities.

In the area of Infrastructure development, the leaders acknowledged the progress made so far and commended the international cooperating partners and donor communities for the support that was pledged to the North South Corridor at the High Level Conference held in Lusaka, Zambia in April 2009.

They also invited the cooperating partners and the donor community to support the Aid for Trade Programmes being developed for other major corridors and in particular the Tripartite and Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) infrastructure Investment Conference to be held in Nairobi, Kenya on 29 and 30^th September this year at which priority projects for these corridors will be presented as well as the maritime corridors.

The Summit expressed its appreciation to the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Task Force for the preparatory work undertaken in preparation for the 2^nd Tripartite Summit.

In his closing remarks, the host President Jacob Zuma of South Africa congratulated all his colleagues for the historic Tripartite Summit that launched the Tripartite Free Trade Area negotiations which he said is a key milestone in the integration of Africa.

The Tripartite Summit adopted Communiqué was read by Ambassador Dr. Richard Sezibera, Secretary General of the East Africa Community.