A Common Market, An African Ambition…

By African Bulletin on June 15, 2011

Today the African continent is considered a source of opportunities and it has become one of the major growth areas; but its development faces major obstacles as trade barriers, poor infrastructure and weak supply chains.

Most economies in the area are also largely dependent on natural resources’ export. Furthermore,  the success of such a project will depend on the countries’ ability to pragmatically address the most pressing problems each country faces and to do so in a way that is consistent with others regional groups such as the European Union (EU) , the  U.S. and the Asian interests in the region. Alex Rugamba, responsible for regional integration and trade at the African Development Bank (ADB), has declared: “The tripartite free trade zone, whose gross domestic product would reach 875 billion dollars, will certainly be an important step in the process of regional integration. However, and according to the World Bank, trade between Southern countries of Africa is barely 10% of total trade in the region, against 60% in Europe and 40% in North America. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) exports rose to more than 30% of GDP in the region during this decade, but with only 3% of regional trade. Observers are struck by the weakness of intra-regional trade in respect to total exports, due to the continued borders’ harassment and tariff barriers considered as serious obstacles that hinder the competitiveness. Nonetheless, “these countries are seeking innovative ways to counter the economic slowdown, but they have not paid enough attention to the regional trade growth effects”, has said Ruth Kagia, World Bank Director for South Africa. But if the tripartite free trade zone works, this could be a springboard for a true African integration of a common market of nearly 600 million people covering half of the entire eastern part of the continent, into the global economy.