On 4th December 2013, the UK’s Secretary of State for International Development announced the early closure of the TMSA programme. As TMSA understands this decision has been informed by a year-long process of DFID reviews and evaluations, including a recent review by the UK’s Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) which will release its findings on 6th December 2013.

The Secretary of State’s written statement to Parliament on TMSA’s early closure, and the reasons she gave for this decision, can be accessed here. The process of how TMSA will be closed is not yet clear but TMSA staff are fully committed to cooperating with DFID and the Regional Organisations of COMESA, EAC and SADC to ensure that, as much as possible, this early closure of TMSA does not disrupt or derail the impressive progress that has been made by the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite, and in which TMSA has played its part, in terms of negotiating a 26-country Free Trade Agreement; in revolutionising and implementing trade facilitation measures that reduce the cost of cross-border trade; and in project preparation of a large number of infrastructure projects, vital to the economic development of Tripartite region, to a bankable stage.