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Zambia’s Minister of Commerce, Trade, and Industry Chipoka Mulenga said that his government was in the process of renegotiating some clauses in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)
Zambia’s Minister of Commerce, Trade, and Industry Chipoka Mulenga said that his government was in the process of renegotiating some clauses in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). Mulenga said in its current form, the agreement stipulates that countries can get things from anywhere, package them in Africa, and supply such products assembled to Africa. This, he said, would kill the production and manufacturing sector of Africa.
According to him, Zambia should be allowed to make decisions for itself on how it was going to structure the investment and development agenda in the area of economic zones. The present agreement does not spell out such details. He also said that Zambia should also be allowed to charter its own way to the part of industrialisation without being dictated upon by any other statutory requirements by any organization. He stressed that if Africa wanted to progress, products must be sourced, produced, and packaged on African soil and not in other continents. Bringing packaged in completely knocked down or semi-knocked down conditions and assembling and packaging would not lead to value addition and employment generation.
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The Zambian commerce minister stressed that the agreement should be able to protect local industries. Analysts also share the view that limited value addition in the continent would not generate employment and income for the people to the scale envisaged.
