COMESA 2018 | Page 20

SPECIAL REPORT At the multilateral level, in 2013, a number of COMESA member States were among the World Trade Organization (WTO) members that concluded the negotiation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) at the Bali Ministerial Conference. The TFA aims to address the vast amount of “red tape” that exists in moving goods across borders, which poses challenges for traders from both developing and developed countries and imposes a particular burden on small and medium-sized enterprises. It contains provisions for expediting the movement, release, and clearance of goods, including goods in transit. It also sets out measures for effective cooperation between customs and other appropriate authorities on trade facilitation and customs compliance issues. By the time the TFA was entering into force in February 2017, 12 out of the 19 COMESA Member Stated (or 63%) had ratifi ed it, agreeing to implement the TFA upon its entry into force. Moreover, a preliminary assessment by COMESA to determine the level of alignment between the TFA and the COMESA Treaty found that out of the 40 Provisions/Measures of the TFA, 28 (or 70%) were already specifi cally catered for in the COMESA Treaty as of the time of entry into force of the TFA. Again, the level of COMESA’s dedication to using regionalism as the main avenue for enhancing free trade is well-demonstrated. However, Africa and indeed COMESA are not yet out of the woods with regard to its pursuit of robust free-trade regional frameworks, regulations, institutions, systems and programmes; a lot of issues remain unresolved. These include a battery of internal and external threats, which the continent and the RECs, COMESA included, should keep striving to manage and address. Internally, the challenges that arise from COMESA, EAC and SADC and the countries therein being considerably heterogeneous were inherited by the TFTA and now stand a good chance of being carried forward into the CFTA. For instance, the issue of hugely disparate Rules of Origin between COMESA and EAC on the one hand and SADC on the other are likely to simply escalate as countries from ECOWAS, CEMEC, Maghreb Arab League, etc. – with their different trade protocols and Origin Rules – now come on board. Concluding negotiations that balance and iron out the 20 • COMESA • 2018 divergent rules on the continent is something the RECs will have to contend with. Similarly, other than EAC and SACU – a Customs Union made up of a subset of countries originally belonging to either SADC or COMESA or both – the vast majority of countries in the TFTA failed to establish a common external trade position while they had been in their respective RECs. Chances of establishing common trade and investment (including debt accumulation) positions just became a whole lot more complicated with the escalation to a CTFA. And such a collective position would be critical to avoid threats of large funding opportunities disrupting the continental agenda on trade, investment, industrialisation, and human progress. Another internal challenge in COMESA and in Africa at large is the wide proliferation of non-tariff barriers (NTBs). COMESA and the TFTA have made strides in addressing NTBs through, for instance, the NTBs Online Tracking and Resolution Mechanism. Nonetheless, the natural inclination of countries to protect their trade interest continues to add pressure for the escalation of NTBs as tariff barriers have declined. On the geopolitical and philosophical fronts, some observers argue that regionalism has lost its lustre in Africa. High profi le political champions with a core interest and passion for keeping Africa’s enchantment with regional integration and free trade alive are few and very far in between. The deep passions of yesteryear people like the late Nkwame Nhuruma of Ghana, the late Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, who put their lives and countries on the line for the idea of Africanism, have signifi cantly diminished with time. Political leaders have sometimes been accused of simply paying lip service