VANILLA BEANS  SOYBEAN OIL  SOYA CAKE   |  COCOA BEANS   |  COFFEE BEANS


African presidents meet over trade

Monday June 13, 2011

Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni is in South Africa for a joint summit of African leaders from three regional economic blocs to discuss trade.

The meeting is to discuss the formation of a 26-member free trade area bringing together 600 million people.

The second Tripartite Summit which opened yesterday at the Sandton International Convention Centre in Johannesburg, brought together heads of state from the Common Market for East and Southern Africa, the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).

The three-day summit launched negotiations to form a free trade area involving the three regional trade blocs.

The proposed Tripartite Free Trade Area is expected to improve trade performance and competitiveness for the region and build on successes of the free trade initiatives existing between some of the countries.

The Tripartite Free Trade Area is expected to provide investors with a market of 600 million people across the 26 member countries.

Among other features of the summit was a review of progress since the first Tripartite Summit in 2008 and formal adoption of the Draft Tripartite Vision and Strategy.

President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, who heads the EAC bloc, said the free trade area would help address poverty, ensure balanced trade and promote social, economic and political development.

Namibia’s president Lucas Pohamba said the creation of the free trade area would create a combined GDP of about 1 trillion dollars.

Pohamba noted that the arrangement would address three pillars of the process of integration namely; market integration, infrastructure development and industrial development.

He said this would greatly strengthen the small and medium enterprises in the three regional economic blocs.

King Mswati of Swaziland, who heads SADC, said the free trade area would help link the African continent and increase direct foreign investment in the region.

He called for peace and stability among the countries in the three economic blocs and said the initiative would help create more jobs, establish a more conducive investment climate and food production for regional and international markets.

South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma said the free trade area would improve the living standards of Africans, especially the youth and ensure food security.

The New Vision Newspaper

Comments for African presidents meet over trade

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Jul 19, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar
What happens next?
by: Anonymous

This is very interesting but it has been going on for years now. What has happened that is tangible and actually improving the lives of the people it is intended to benefit? or is it just a new travel club?

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Africa Uganda Business Travel News .





Haven't yet found what you Want...?

If you haven't yet found what you were looking for or you need detailed information about the subject matter on this page

then...

feel free to ask our business travel consultants.



Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.