Environment ministry signs agreement to strengthen marine protection, promote ecotourism    Egypt, WHO discuss expanding health cooperation, development initiatives    Egypt, Sierra Leone discuss expanding cooperation in transport, infrastructure    Gaza under siege, fire: Resistance intensifies amid deepening humanitarian collapse    Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrives in Egypt for high-level talks    Service restoration underway after Cairo telecom fire, minister tells PM    Egypt's PM orders probe, pledges faster network upgrade after Ramsis Exchange blaze    Gold hits over 1-week low on stronger dollar    EGX closed mostly higher on July 9    Korea Culture Week in Egypt to blend K-Pop with traditional arts    Egypt, France FMs review Gaza ceasefire efforts, reconstruction    Egypt, Pakistan boost healthcare ties – Cabinet    UK, Egypt strengthen cooperation on green transition, eco-tourism, and environmental investments    Escalation in Gaza as ceasefire talks remain fragile amid mounting humanitarian crisis    CIB finances Giza Pyramids Sound and Light Show redevelopment with EGP 963m loan    Egypt's PM, Uruguay's president discuss Gaza, trade at BRICS summit    Greco-Roman tombs with hieroglyphic inscriptions discovered in Aswan    Egypt teams up with private sector to boost university rankings    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Egypt condemns deadly terrorist attack in Niger    Egypt's FM, China's Wang discuss Iran-Israel escalation    Egypt's EHA, Schneider Electric sign MoU on sustainable infrastructure    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    Egypt's Democratic Generation Party Evaluates 84 Candidates Ahead of Parliamentary Vote    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Cabinet approves establishment of national medical tourism council to boost healthcare sector    Egypt's PM follows up on Julius Nyerere dam project in Tanzania    Egypt's FM inspects Julius Nyerere Dam project in Tanzania    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Expert: Weaker Africans to benefit from free trade
Published in Youm7 on 13 - 06 - 2011

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Weaker countries that fear being overwhelmed in a huge African free trade area will benefit from it in the long term, a development expert said Sunday as leaders of 26 governments launched negotiations to create the zone encompassing nearly 600 million people and a combined GDP of more than $800 billion.
In the short term, "you have to acknowledge the fact that within an FTA there are winners and losers," Kennedy Mbekeani, an African Development Bank official, said in an interview. But he said as the zone helps boost the region's economies, smaller members will benefit and find and develop sectors where they have competitive advantage.
"They should not be defensive, they should go in with an open mind," said Mbekeani, recently appointed by his bank to help find ways to support the zone that stretches from Egypt down to South Africa and from Angola across to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. The bank would like to see a continentwide free trade zone, and sees the south and east bloc — which accounts for half the continent's population and GDP — as an important step in that direction.
In the early days, Mbekeani said, some countries will want to establish tariff and other barriers. He said barriers should be temporary, and while they are in place, countries should be strengthening their economies.
In a speech to the summit Sunday, the leader of Swaziland, King Mswati III, expressed some of the misgivings of countries like his, with among the smallest populations and weakest economies in the zone. Mswati called for negotiations to proceed cautiously.
"We should not compete, but complement one another so that we can all share in its success," the king said.
Host South Africa is the continent's economic powerhouse, but has high levels of unemployment and poverty. President Jacob Zuma, in his address to the summit, said the zone will help neighbors work together to alleviate poverty and build industrial capacity.
"There is no single country that can prosper on its own," Zuma said.
The zone brings together members of the Southern African Development Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the East African Community. Officials envision members lobbying together for aid and investment, presenting coherent and integrated plans. Plans for the zone include joint projects to improve roads and rail networks and power supply.
Zuma said a first phase of negotiations on allowing the free movement of goods were expected to take three years under the framework he and other leaders signed Sunday. Future negotiations will tackle trade in services and other issues. He also commended planners for recognizing the need to build manufacturing capacity and infrastructure.
"Regional and continental infrastructure development is of fundamental importance," Zuma said.
Rob Davies, South Africa's trade minister, said the three trade blocs behind the free trade agreement have a combined population of 533 million, or 57 percent of the combined population of African Union member states, and a combined GDP of $833 billion, or 58 percent of the continent's GDP.
"Given the fact that many African countries are too small to grow an internal market themselves, ... enlarging a regional market of a reasonably sizable proportion is a very, very important step forward," Davies said.
Foreign companies also will see opportunity in a larger market — EU and British observers attended Sunday's summit.
Multinationals can send their goods duty free across African borders if they set up factories — creating jobs for Africans — within the zone. Mbekeani says the rules, yet to be worked out, should allow non-African companies to set up a factory in the zone to assemble products that might rely on inputs from elsewhere.
Mbekeani said it is hard to predict when the zone might resemble the European Union, with its single central bank and a currency used across borders. He pointed out that the EU has been a work in progress since the 1950s, and still encounters problems. One lesson Africa can learn from Europe, he said, is "not to move too fast."
On the sidelines of the summit, members of the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, have been holding talks on crises affecting two of its members, Madagascar and Zimbabwe. A new round began Sunday evening as was expected to stretch late into the night.
SADC is trying to restore democracy in Madagascar, where a military-backed coup leader has held power since 2009.
In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe's supporters are calling for polls before the year ends to replace a shaky coalition with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party formed after violent and inconclusive elections in 2008. Mugabe has been accused of using violence and election fraud to hold onto power and independent groups have said the possibility of a vote has led to new attacks on Mugabe's opponents.


Clic here to read the story from its source.