Online Reporter
WHILE all members of the African Union view the formation of the African Continental Free Trade Area as the primary driver of inter-African trade and development, it is recognised that a lot of the detailed work forming this new trade bloc has been done or is work in progress in the regional trade associations.
The largest of these is the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, with 21 members and these days stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to as far south as Zimbabwe.
The second largest bloc that will be used to form AfCFTA is Ecowas, the 15 West African countries, and one of the trickiest pieces of integration will be bringing in the oldest customs union, SACU, comprising South Africa and its four immediate neighbours.
No one sees this integration as easy, although having decent building blocks for the future AfCFTA does mean that the African dream is not just some vague hope, but something being built on substantial foundations.
So far as Comesa is concerned it is now vital that it is not only developed and that work already done is brought to fruition, but that those leading Comesa also make sure that what we are doing will ensure that the future AfCFTA will be functional and will cover all development and trade angles.
Zimbabwe is now going to be part of that leadership for the next two years, as vice chairperson under Kenya for the next 12 months and then taking over the chair. This will place a lot of responsibility on President Mnangagwa and the regional teams to ensure that we do not lag and that we get things right.
Zimbabwe, as seen with the recently completed year of chairing SADC and now with the two years as vice chairperson and then chairperson of Comesa, is assuming a central position within the region. This is not just a mark of respect from our neighbours, although that must be part of the reason, but also a belief that Zimbabwe is committed to the regional integration that can drive all our economies.
As a practical addition, the general return of Zimbabwe to all international forums, now being consolidated as an almost certain non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, means that our neighbours are not taking any risks of some western country suddenly cutting back on communications because Zimbabwe is a public face for regional bodies. The solid diplomacy of the Second Republic of engagements and re-engagements, and being a friend of all and an enemy of none, does resonate and the successes do mean that Zimbabwe can play a similar role when called on to chair a regional grouping or be the public face for such a grouping.
Comesa started off as a preferential trade area in the 1980s before being upgraded into an economic community. While many people not involved in international trade might not realise the substantial gains, a great deal of work has been done, on both our side of Africa and the western side with Ecowas.
Free trade areas need some very complex and very numerous decisions on rules of origin, on how settlements can be made between banks and all the other nuts and bolts of functioning trade.
A great deal of the work in setting up AfCFTA will be taking the detailed work done by Comesa, Ecowas and SACU in the far south and combining it.
This will save a surprising number of years of detailed bureaucratic labour and also ensure that as countries enter into the AfCFTA trade patterns they are already aware of the rules.
Among the most important of the rule concepts is the setting of local origin standards in every sector for raw materials, intermediate products and finished products.
And these will vary by sector until we reach the glorious day when just about all heavy industry can be centred in Africa.
But it’s already agreed that while the accrual physical products have to be ever more local in origin to benefit from free trade, ownership of businesses can be spread, so that Africa can build up foreign investment and speed up development.
At the same time, Comesa cannot just sit back and do almost nothing more until AfCFTA is formed. Comesa, Ecowas and SACU have to continue building up Africa and this is forming a major plank of the summit this week, with development and trade taking the centre stage.
Modern industrial processes and technology all need to be brought into African trade, and one advantage of using the regional blocs to build the final result is that we do not have to slow down development while we build.
We can do both at the same time, and that is clearly one of the priorities of President Mnangagwa, and for that matter of the incoming chair President William Ruto of Kenya.
Rather usefully, the two were very successful in creating joint action when chairing the East African Community and Sadc this year, and having worked together will find it easier to continue that progress over the next two years as they follow each other into the centre of Comesa.
