The Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry has encouraged the private sector to take advantage of the trade space which the Government is creating.
Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary Kayula Siame has urged the private sector to complement government’s efforts by putting in place sound business practices and models which will strengthen their industrial capacity, diversify the production base, and culminate in very competitive products and services.
The Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry PS said this in Lusaka when she officiated at Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tripartite Free Area (TFTA) National Consultative Workshop for the Private Sector and Civil Society.
Ms Siame says the idea of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) emanated from the meeting that was held in Kampala, Uganda among the Heads of State and Government from the three Regional Economic Communities.
She adds that it may be argued that the estimated US$1.4 trillion economic weight of the TFTA members is relatively modest, but that countries ought to recognize that the TFTA membership is a dynamic group of countries.
“For instance, merchandise exports among the TFTA steadily increased from $2.3 billion to $36 billion between 1994 and 2014. This translates into a 12-fold increase over 20 years, thus highlighting the huge potential that lies within the TFTA alone. TFTA brings together countries that are already in FTAs. Therefore, they will have the benefit of building on the gains achieved in their respective RECs but on a much larger and more dynamic market space,” she said.
“The TFTA is based on a development integration approach which combines market integration, industrial development and infrastructure development. This is borne out of the realization of the complementarity existing between trade liberalization, competitive industrial production and infrastructure development.”
The PS says the potential to stimulate intra-regional trade under the unified scheme of the TFTA will mostly likely spur a new wave of opportunities beyond the African continent.
She further adds that exporters will be accorded an opportunity to competitively grow their international market and consumers will equally get a broader scope of products.
“The unification of three very different preferential trade regimes under the major RECs, encompassing heterogeneous Member States with varying economic sizes, will definitely send a strong signal of our commitment to engage in trade, and potentially attract investment,” said Ms Kayula.
“Allow me to take this opportunity to encourage the private sector to take advantage of the trade space which the Government, through the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, is creating. I urge the private sector to complement our efforts by putting in place sound business practices and models which will strengthen their industrial capacity, diversify the production base, and culminate in very competitive products and services.”
Ms Siame states that with the current proliferation of regional integration, not ratifying the TFTA will go against one of the major long run goals which the RECs were meant to attain.

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