Zambia has deposited in December 2020 its instrument of ratification for the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) Agreement with the COMESA Secretariat, a process that is going slow, as since 2015, when the TFTA was launched, only 9 countries have made the Agreement legally effective (and binding) in their respective territories. The TFTA Agreement needs a total of 14 ratifications to enter into force.