Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) Agreement

On July 7th of 2017, the South African Minister of Trade and Industry, signed the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), in Uganda, turning South Africa the 19th country to sign the agreement. 

This agreement is currently being negotiated by 26 countries, combining a population of 625 million people and a GDP of $1.6 trillion. These countries already belong to the trading blocs of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC).The following countries are set to be included in TFTA: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The TFTA main goal is to reduce the tariffs on the goods traded between these countries.