According to Ambassador A.P. Neewoor, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Mauritius welcomes the Tripartite initiative which is an important step towards institutionalising cooperation between COMESA, EAC and SADC with a common objective of establishing a FTA, Customs Union and Common Market.

 ‘Mauritius firmly believes that the time has come for COMESA, EAC and SADC to bring together their respective regional integration programmes in order to further enlarge our markets, unlock our productive potential, increase the levels of intra-Africa trade, and enhance our development prospects’, he stressed.

The workshop fits into the context of consultations that are being held around the region in order to better prepare Member States in the run-up to the second Tripartite Summit to be held in June 2011, in South Africa where it is envisaged to launch the negotiations on the Tripartite FTA.

Benefits of the Tripartite FTA

The three regional economic communities (COMESA, EAC and SADC) comprise 26 countries with a combined population of 527 million people and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US $ 624 billion and a GDP per capita averaging US $ 1 184.  The 26 countries make up half of the African Union (AU) in terms of membership and just over 58% in terms of contribution to GDP and 57% of the total population of the AU.  The enlarged FTA will therefore provide Mauritius with significant market access prospects.

The COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite FTA would result in various benefits namely: increased access to a larger market, comprising 26 countries resulting in greater opportunities for trading in goods and services; increased domestic, cross-border and foreign investment prospects; greater business openings for production of goods, services and infrastructure; enhanced competitiveness; job and wealth creation; and deeper integration of Tripartite economies.

Some of the main features of the Tripartite FTA would be: removal of import and export duties on all goods originating and traded within the Tripartite region; business friendly rules of origin which are simple, less restrictive, easier and less costly to administer and comply with; simple and harmonised customs and transit procedures and regulations; and removal of non-tariff barriers and other trade impediments throughout the Tripartite region.