African officials gather in Egypt to talk mega trade pact

Senior officials of three African economic blocs met in Egypt today to start hammering out details of a free trade agreement that could develop a common market spanning the continent.

The Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) is to be launched at a summit of heads of state and government on Wednesday in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, aimed at establishing a common framework for tariff preferences along with other commitments.

The deal between the East African Community, Southern African Development Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa will create a market of 26 countries with a population of 625 million and gross domestic product worth more than USD 1 trillion (900 billion euros).

Today, senior officials from the three economic blocs began discussing the details of the deal.

"Today, we opened the preparatory meeting of senior officials. Details of our discussions will be presented tomorrow at the meeting of ministers," Francis Mangeni, director for trade at COMESA told AFP on the sidelines of the meeting.