- Elimination of Non-tariff barriers is a major pre requisite for the successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
- The remark was made by Elias Mpedi Magosi executive secretary of SADC during two-day African Union High-Level Stakeholders Conference on the AfCFTA in Lilongwe this week.
Elimination of Non-tariff barriers is a major pre requisite for the successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The remark was made by Elias Mpedi Magosi executive secretary of SADC during two-day African Union High-Level Stakeholders Conference on the AfCFTA in Lilongwe this week.
Held under the theme AfCFTA: An Engine for Africa’s Social and Economic Transformation, the need for promoting intra-trade at both regional and continental levels was highlighted by eliminating the barriers. Magosi added that SADC members should realise the significance of a robust structural transformation for implementation of the AfCFTA. The limited industrial base of most African countries, resulting in trading in primary goods mainly from agriculture and extractive industries and poor facilities for trade facilitation across Africa were identified as other hurdles for expansion of AfCFTA.
Head of mission of the African Union (AU) for Southern African Regional Office, Jean Pierre, said that AfCFTA, the flagship project of Agenda 2063, could be the last opportunity for Africa’s economic transformation through diversification of intra-African trade and increasing the share of industrial goods. Towards this end, member States should jointly build regional value chains to facilitate transformative industrialisation for Africa to gain a fairer share of the global trade.
