Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern Africa

Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern Africa (PTA) in relation with International Trade

In the context of trade organizations, Christopher Mark (1993) provided the following definition of Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern Africa (PTA): A preferential arrangement and eventual common market including Angola, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, founded in 1982. Objectives include commercial and economic cooperation, harmonization of policies; elimination of tariffs on all goods traded within region by 2000, and reduction of nontariff barriers; removal of foreign exchange constraints in intra-regional trade; and cooperation in agriculture. Some tariffs have been reduced on a limited range of products; a common list of goods receiving preferential rates is in effect. Restrictive rules of origin and value-added criteria have reduced coverage of intra-group trade liberalization.