The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and International Trade Centre (ITC) have opined that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement can be a game-changer for African businesses if properly implemented.
A similar view was held by the African Development Bank (AfDB) during a panel session at the 2021 WTO Aid-for-Trade Stocktaking meeting held on Wednesday, March 24, 2021.
The session explored strategies to deepen private sector participation in the implementation the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It also focused on boosting private sector involvement in policy dialogues on trade, investment and infrastructure to increase participation by micro, small and medium enterprises, and the need for greater partnerships to attract investment in promising industries.
“The success of the AfCFTA hinges on the ability of African firms to understand and capitalize on the trade-related opportunities offered by the AfCFTA,” said Pamela Coke-Hamilton, International Trade Centre (ITC) Executive Director.
“The Aid-for-Trade initiative should focus on three priorities to boost the private sector’s role in AfCFTA: empowering businesses with skills and know-how; fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships to attract investment for greater value addition and enhancing market connections using e-commerce and digital platforms,” added Ms Coke-Hamilton.
“This is a trade area of the people, so we need to understand and engage the people to go forward and believe in this dream of an African free trade area,” said Ambassador Usha Dwarka-Canabady, Permanent Representative of Mauritius at the United Nations Office at Geneva and coordinator of the African Group at the World Trade Organization.
Present also at the session was Ghana’s Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanteng, who noted bridging information gaps between governments and the private sector would help build confidence around the free trade agreement and that fiscal incentives, including subsidies, might be needed in some instances.
According to Vice President Solomon Quaynor of the AfDB, UNIDO, AfDB and the ITC have each engaged with the private sector at the continental, regional and sub-national level to facilitate the African business community’s access to the new single market.
“The African Development Bank is actively supporting or looking to support initiatives to boost trade and improve livelihoods for Africans,” Vice President Quaynor said.
The 2021 WTO Aid-for-Trade Stocktaking meeting comes in the wake of the entry into force of the AfCFTA on January 1, 2021.
The free trade area brings together 1.3 billion Africans in a $3.4 trillion economic bloc. The bloc is the largest free trade area since the establishment of the World Trade Organization, and economists project that its benefits and impacts could lift tens of millions out of poverty over the next 15 years.
