Economic attaché of Islamic Republic of Iran in South Africa announced that the largest world free zone will be established in the region.
Economic attaché of Islamic Republic of Iran in South Africa announced that the largest world free zone will be established in the region.
BENA- '' The leaders of 26 African countries hold negotiation for establishing grand free trade zone in Africa continent,'' Hamid Eftekhari said.
fter years of planning and coordinating, Northern, Eastern and Southern African leaders have now moved a step closer to establishing the long-conceived goal of a united African economic community.
The regional leaders have agreed to formally launch negotiations to establish a grand Free Trade Area (FTA) that would encompass 26 countries in three regional economic communities (RECs), namely the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The leaders envision members lobbying together for aid and investment, presenting coherent and integrated plans, which include joint projects to improve roads and rail networks and power supply.
The first phase of negotiations on allowing the free movement of goods is expected to take three years. Future negotiations will tackle trade in services and other issues.
The summit also commended planners for recognizing the need to build manufacturing capacity and infrastructure.
The creation of a single FTA would see the coming together of a combined population of nearly 700 million people and a gross domestic product of US$875 billion from 26 countries.
This would open borders to approximately half of the continent, spanning the entire southern and eastern regions of Africa - from Cape Town to Cairo.
In their communiqué, at the end of the second regional tripartite summit held in Sandton on Sunday, the leaders signed an agreement to launch talks and adopt the roadmap for the establishment of the FTA.