Last June,TFTA Council of Ministers had set the timeline of April this year to open up it’s market of more than 600 million people. However, the failure of the 27 members of the three regional blocs to approve the agreement on the proposed tripartite free trade area (TFTA) within the set timeline is bound to further delay the implementation of the process. Uganda, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa only have endorsed the pact.
The launch of the TFTA is also delayed due to the discord between the East African Community and the Southern African Customs Union over tax treatment of motor vehicles and dairy product imports into the EAC.
Launched on June 10, 2015, in Egypt, TFTA, was designed to bring under one umbrella the EAC (Common Market of the Eastern and Southern Africa), and the SADC (Southern African Development Community), opening up a market with a gross domestic product of over $1.2 trillion. TFTA was to pave way for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), bringing together all 55 member states of the African Union with a combined GDP of more than $3.4 trillion and a market of more than 1.2 billion people.
