17 African countries have participated in the first day of COMESA -EAC-SADC Tripartite Summit, Saeed Abdullah-head of trade agreements and foreign trade sectors- asserted Monday. Abdullah made these remarks on the sidelines of summit's second day. Egypt hosts COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Summit in Sharm El Sheikh from June7 till June 10, 2015 in the presence of top leaders of 26 African states. He noted that the summit targets declaring the launching of the African Trade Zone (AFTZ) agreement between Africa's top three economic blocks; The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and East African Community (EAC). Abdullah added that states of COMESA and SADC have agreed on the procedures of constructing the AFTZ while some of EAC's states are still studying all AFTZ's details. The Tripartite TFA encompassing 26 Member/Partner States from COMESA, EAC and SADC , with a combined population of 625 million people and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD 1.2 trillion, will account for half of the membership of the African Union and 58% of the continent's GDP. The Tripartite FTA popularly known as the Grand Free Trade Area, will be the largest economic bloc on the continent and the launching pad for the establishment of the Continental Free Trade Are (CFTA) in 2017. He elaborated that the actual procedures of constructing the AFTZ will not start before two years until all members of the African blocks agree on it. On other side, Abdullah told reporters that Cairo-Cape Town Highway is set to be finished within two years. Moreover, the Egyptian government has financed the infrastructure and utilities for the road in cooperation with African Development Bank and international financing organizations, the head clarified.
