Addis Ababa summit, economic dimensions of the tripartite grouping [Archives:2004/699/Business & Economy]

Mahyoub Al-Kamaly
The tripartite grouping consisting of Yemen, Sudan and Ethiopia represents the birth of a new economic agglomeration in the region. It is a nucleus for a regional framework open for being joined by other countries. It is considered a newborn political alliance and an important economic bloc.
The three countries have culminated in Addis Ababa their summit meting with the declaration of the establishment of the grouping and that is in confirmation of significance in gathering three countries forming a large consumer market in the region.
At this time of globalization and free trade, both Yemen and Ethiopia have confirmed in the latest Addis Ababa summit their keenness on developing areas of trade and investment cooperation and on establishment of a free zone aimed at achieving economic regional integration.
According to economic sources Yemen possesses oil and human wealth while Ethiopia possesses agriculture and animal wealth and Sudan on the other hand has the fertile land and qualified cadres. The sources believe that these elements form altogether a political and economic power in the region and their integration and unification of their goals and activities would contribute to founding a unique kind f grouping that is geographically overlooking the most important commercial areas in the world.
Those sources have also affirmed that the latest summit held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa and chaired by presidents Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen and the Sudanese Omer al-Bashir as well as the Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi, has laid elements of trust in their relations and stabilized depth of the existing bonds among them.
This regional grouping would contribute to build and deepen elements of the regional security and stability in the Red Sea and Horn of Africa region. This would lead to joint work for building effective investment and commercial partnership, in addition to fighting terror.
Some observers on the other hand believe that the three countries potentials are modest and their transport means are weak, a matter that may impede the movement of trade exchange between them. Those observers add that the three countries have their own problems with Eritrea and from political standpoint their grouping could not be important but their endeavor for strengthening their economic ties could be of the significant factors for the establishment of a new economic bloc in the region.
It is certain that the tripartite grouping has become calling the attention of countries such as Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia that may be joining it and such development could expand the scope of trade partnership in the region.
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