The East African Community is considering allocating a further $161,100 towards the planned merger of three regional trading blocs — the EAC, the Common Market for Eastern and the Southern Africa (Comesa) and Southern African Development Community (Sadc).

This will add to the $289,700 that had been allocated for the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) negotiations in the 2014/2015 budget that is awaiting approval by the EAC Council of Ministers this month.

According to a report by the EAC Sectoral Council of Ministers of Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment, the EAC-TFTA negotiations have not taken place since last year due to funding constraints.

The negotiations were to be concluded by June. The TFTA agreement is to be signed during the 3rd Summit of Tripartite Heads of State and Government later in the year.

READ: Comesa, SADC, EAC agree on free trade area rules

Funds allocated for EAC preparatory meetings in the financial year 2013/14 were spent before the conclusion of the negotiations. Also, the allocations to the tripartite negotiations have fallen. In 2012/2013, $451,800 was allocated for the negotiations while in 2014/15, the figure stands at $289,700.

The ministers said the EAC partner states are expected to ratify the TFTA agreement and embark on its implementation by January 2015 or shortly thereafter.

The EAC partner states are negotiating the TFTA agreement as a bloc and, therefore, undertake preparatory meetings to formulate regional positions prior to the negotiations.

The Tripartite FTA is driven by three pillars, namely market integration, infrastructure development and industrial development.

A free trade area is the second stage of the tripartite economic integration in which member countries will undertake to eliminate tariffs, quotas and preferences on goods and services traded among them.

The tripartite arrangement aims to provide a wide platform for negotiation that will eventually eliminate the unnecessary competition among African states.

If successfully and fully implemented, the tripartite trading arrangement will have a total population of 600 million people and a combined output of goods and services of more than $1 trillion.