Tripartite Task Force (TTF) reviews progress on the Simplified Trade Regime (TSTR)

The Tripartite Task Force (TTF) of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) convened a consultative engagement with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in Nairobi, Kenya, on 20 February 2026. The meeting provided an opportunity to review implementation progress, assess key achievements and align on strategic priorities for the next phase of execution in advancing the Tripartite Simplified Trade Regime (TSTR). The TSTR is a regional trade facilitation framework aimed at simplifying, accelerating, and reducing the cost of cross-border trade.

It is specifically designed to support small-scale traders particularly women and youth while strengthening regional integration and expanding inclusive economic opportunities across the Tripartite region. The programme is currently being implemented along the Northern and Nacala Trade Corridors, with a strong focus on introducing simplification measures that directly benefit financially disadvantaged traders, especially women and youth engaged in informal and small-scale cross-border trade. The meeting further identified practical measures to accelerate implementation, emphasising the need to prioritise activities that can be undertaken concurrently rather than sequentially.

While several core interventions remain contingent upon two key deliverables, the completion of the baseline survey at the four pilot border posts and the formal validation of the TSTR framework, participants underscored the importance of advancing actions that are not dependent on these processes. In this context, the meeting highlighted the strategic value of scaling up initiatives that can leverage existing bilateral Simplified Trade Regime (STR) frameworks already operational among neighbouring countries within the Tripartite region. Utilising these established platforms will enable the Tripartite to fast-track trader sensitisation, strengthen coordinated border management practices and implement targeted small-scale trade facilitation measures, while broader regional harmonisation efforts continue.

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The meeting was convened on the margins of the TSTR Policy Dialogue Forum held on 18-19 February 2026 in Nairobi, which brought together umbrella Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Business Apex Bodies to provide a strategic update on the capacity building, implementation and progress of the TSTR framework within the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite arrangement. The meeting was organised by the TTF through the SADC Secretariat’s Industrial Development and Trade directorate, which is hosting the project.

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