Other countries vying for this opportunity are Egypt and Ghana.
eSwatini was the only Southern African Development Community (SADC) member that had not signed and ratified the convention which waseventually debated and acceded to within three hours by members of both houses of Parliament who had held a joint sitting on Friday afternoon.
Motivating the motion that was moved by Thuli Dlamini, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini said he would back the accession of the policy because of the benefits that come with hosting the CFTA Secretariat.
“When we applied to host the offices we ticked all the boxes except for the convention, so it is crucial that we consider that,” he said a few minutes before the house acceded.
The premier said having the CFTA Secretariat offices built in the country would render eSwatini the trade capital of Africa.
He made an example of Ethiopia being the political capital of Africa because it is host to the African Union headquarters while Kenya also hosts the UN head office in Africa.
Botswana is also host to the SADC headquarters.
The treaty that entered into force on March 19, 1963 talks about the establishment and conduct of consular relations, consular functions, inviolability of the consular premises, end of consular functions, immunity from jurisdiction and ending consular relations among other things.