By JUDITH NAMUTOWE –

THE Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and two other Regional Economic Communities (RECs) will tomorrow launch the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA).
The TFTA will be launched for COMESA, East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Egypt.
It will build on the FTAs that are already in place in the three RECs.
According to a statement released by COMESA public relations officer Mwangi Gakunga, the final steps towards the launching of the COMESA-EAC-SADC FTA began last Sunday.
The joint tripartite sectoral ministerial committee responsible for legal, trade, finance, economic matters and internal affairs held its pre-launch meeting at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt.
The committee which is one of the technical working groups that have been negotiating the TFTA met three days ahead of the historical launch with a view of refining the TFTA launch documents.
These include the Sharm El Sheikh declaration launching the COMESA-EAC-SADC TFTA the draft post signature implementation roadmap, the indicative schedule of negotiations on outstanding issues in phase I and II negotiations, and the programme of work on movement of business persons and the industrial development pillar.
Senior advisor for Minister of Industry, Trade and Small and Medium Enterprises in Egypt Sayed Elbous, told delegates from the 26 member states that the African continent was banking on the realisation of the COMESA-EAC-SADC tripartite FTA to launch the Continental Free Trade Area in 2017.
The statement states that the first phase addressed trade in goods which has now attained sufficient consensus leading to the decision to launch the TFTA.
The second phase of the negotiations would be launched during the Summit and will cover trade in services, competition policy, intellectual property rights, and other trade-related matters.
COMESA Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya said the TFTA launch was historical as it will have great outcomes in the region and beyond.
Speaking after the opening of the technical committee meeting, Mr Ngwenya who is chairing the Tripartite Task Force said the FTA would ensure that jobs were created as companies involved in the production of goods and service across borders would be established in the region to take advantage of the wider market.
The region has base of 26 member States with a population of 625 million people and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$1.3 trillion.