O N I N T E R N AT I O N A L T RA D E

D O N E BY: DA D O BO E VA

FA RA N G I S

THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IN

AFRICA

Countries Involved:

 Egypt,   Libya,   Sudan,   Angola,   Botswana,   Burundi,   Comoros,  Djibouti,   Dominican Republic,   Eritrea,   Ethiopia,   Kenya,   Lesotho,  Madagascar,   Malawi,   Mauritius,   Mozambique,   Namibia,   Rwanda,  Seychelles,   Swaziland,   South Africa,   Tanzania, United Republic Of,   Uganda,   Zambia,   Zimbabwe,

Area of Cooperation:

goods, energy, infrastructure

African Free Trade Zone Agreement (AFTZ)

• Signed at: 2008• Summary:

• The leaders of three African trading blocs signed an agreement to create a free trade zone of 26 countries with a GDP of an estimated $624bn (£382.9bn).

• It is hoped the deal will ease access to markets within the region and end problems arising from the fact several countries belong to multiple groups.

The deal also aims to strengthen the bloc's bargaining power when negotiating international deals.

Analysts say the agreement will help intra-regional trade and boost growth.

The three blocs which struck the deal were the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa).

The agreement will also lend its backing to joint infrastructure and energy projects in the zone.

• Twenty-six eastern and southern African nations are making progress toward agreeing on a free trade area that will create a market with nearly 600 million people and combined gross domestic product of $1 trillion, South African President Jacob Zuma said.

• “This market scale could launch a sizeable part of the continent onto a new developmental trajectory,” Zuma told a conference hosted by Bloomberg LP in Johannesburg today. “The free trade area will form the basis for an Africa-wide free trade agreement, which could create a single market of $2.6 trillion and a population of over 1 billion people.”

• South Africa is focusing on building ties with the rest of the continent amid sluggish demand for its exports from its traditional European trading partners. The International Monetary Fundexpects sub-Saharan Africa’s economy to grow 6.1 percent this year.

• “There remains ongoing uncertainty in the global economy, with the euro zone in particular continuing to struggle,” Zuma said. “Africa’s rise over the past decade has been very real. The size of the African economy has more than tripled since 2000. This growth is predicted to continue in the foreseeable future, giving rise to a new Africa paradigm: Africa as the new growth frontier.”

• South Africa was the biggest source of foreign direct investment into the rest of Africa in 2012, participating in projects that created more than 45,000 jobs, according to the president.

• “Our other partners on the continent such as Nigeria, Kenya and increasingly Angola, are also taking up the cause of investing on the African continent,” he said. “Intra-Africa investments should define the new Africa paradigm.”

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