Weaker Africans to benefit from free trade: expert

Short term economic losers will eventually benefit from 26-country African trade zone, says official

An African development expert says weaker countries who fear being overwhelmed in a huge free trade zone will eventually benefit.
Kennedy Mbekeani, an African Development Bank official, says in the short term there will be economic losers in the zone that would unite a swath of eastern and southern African countries. Mbekeani spoke Sunday on the sidelines of a summit at which 26 governments will try to accelerate creating the zone, first proposed in 2008.
In the early days, Mbekeani says, some will want to establish tariff and other barriers. Mbekeani says barriers should be temporary, and while they are in place, countries should identify and strengthen manufacturing or service sectors where they might have a competitive advantage.
The zone will stretch from Egypt to South Africa and from Angola across to Madagascar.