Ethiopia has not signed the COMESA Free Trade Agreement. Some professionals say that this could keep Ethiopian businesses from benefiting from the initiative.

Businesses in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) states will now be able to participate in tenders issued in one another’s countries with a 15 percent preferential treatment against international bidders.  

All the same, Ethiopian businesses will still enjoy the preferential treatment although tariffs will be levied on their exports to COMESA states as the country has not signed the FTA, Gashaw Debebe, secretary general of the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations, said.

African trade officials had met in mid June in Johannesburg to launch negotiations for a free trade area (FTA) which would embrace more than 26 countries, and about a trillion dollars of economic output.

The Christian Science Monitor had reported that the proposed deal would unite three existing trade blocs in central, eastern and southern Africa. It is believed that the free trade area will do away with most trade barriers between participating countries.  

When the negotiations are concluded within three years, the enlarged FTA would include Ethiopia, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, DRC, Egypt, Eritrea, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Source: The Reporter