27 January 2010
At a meeting in London today, Minister for Trade and Development, Gareth Thomas and the Tripartite Task Force (a coordination mechanism for three regional economic communities in eastern and southern Africa) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that aims to deepen regional integration and strengthen cooperation between donors, the East Africa Community (EAC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).
Gareth Thomas welcomed the MoU:
"Today's signing shows how the UK Government, through its work with its partners across east and southern Africa, is committed to helping to open up trade and economic development in Africa.
"Programmes like the North South Corridor, where DFID and donors recently pledged over $1 billion of funding to upgrade rail, road and port infrastructure across eight African countries, show what can be achieved through co-operation. This MoU will help us to build on this and strengthen this relationship even further."
The agreement recognises that Africa has to trade more if it is to develop economically and grow out of poverty. It is an important milestone in the DFID-TTF relationship, both cementing it and serving as the basis for a long-term, strategic and operational partnership.
The MoU commits the TTF to promoting and accelerating regional integration in Africa; implementing recent decisions on trade integration and infrastructure cooperation; forming a Free Trade Area across the three regions and, assisting the Regional Economic Communities to mobilise their resources.
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Minister for Trade and Development, Gareth Thomas and the representatives of COMESA, the EAC and SADC Tripartite Task Force (TTF) - Ambassador Juma Mwapachu, Mr Sindiso Ngwenya and Engineer João Caholo
