Africa trading blocs series#
Africa trading blocs free#

Part Two: India and the South Asia Free Trade Area.Part One: Brazil, Mercosur and the Eurasian Economic Union.In this article, I examine the potential for China’s engagement with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).

Africa trading blocs series#

In this series of articles, I will examine each of the possible scenarios that may occur in the development of free trade within the BRICS nations. The prominence BRICS enjoys and its intended actions almost certainly mean it is a platform for instigating just that – and the BRICS 2019 Brasilia Declaration expressed exactly this scenario. Neither the BRICS bloc nor the Belt and Road Initiative are free trade areas, although what BRICS does is potentially provide a common forum through which other free trade agreements can be negotiated.

Where China differs is that unlike the other four members, it is not the primary member of a specific trade bloc per se, although it does of course have a number of important free trade agreements. To this end: China is a lead player in the Belt and Road Initiative, Brazil with its influence and membership in Mercosur is a leader in the South American region, Russia has a similar role in the development of the Eurasian Economic Union, India has a prominent role within the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA), while South Africa is a major strategic partner in the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). This can be reasonably expected to include advancing free trade agreements. The IMF has projected that the BRICS nations will account for over 50 percent of global GDP by 2030.Īchieving that growth will require some planning and innovation on the part of the countries concerned. At present, the BRICS countries represent over 3.1 billion people, or about 41 percent of the world population.Īs of 2018, these five nations have a combined nominal GDP of US$18.6 trillion, about 23.2 percent of the global total, a combined GDP (PPP) of around US$40.55 trillion (32 percent of world’s GDP PPP) and an estimated US$4.46 trillion in combined foreign reserves. There are significant global trade issues to examine here: most notably exactly how such trade can be increased. With the Presidents and Prime Ministers from India, Russia, and South Africa also all attending, the Brasilia Summit’s Declaration stated that the BRICS bloc had expressed common goals of “expanding trade and innovation”. (Part four of a five-part BRICS Free Trade series)Ĭhinese President Xi Jinping has just returned from Brazil where he attended the annual meeting of the BRICS nations in Brasilia.