"‘AfCFTA is going to be difficult, but we\u2019ve got to do it’

" \n The AfCFTA secretary general talks to The Africa Report about the continental trade bloc\u2019s January launch, forging value chains and diplomatic challenges ahead. \n \n\n \n Now that Africa\u2019s much-vaunted free trade area has launched on 1 January, there will be big fanfare and even bigger pressure mounting for\u00a0South Africa\u2019s Wamkele Mene\u00a0to make it a success. \n \n\n \n Building up the continent\u2019s interconnections and market of more than 1 billion people is being touted as a means to fight poverty, bring development and\u00a0reduce the continent\u2019s dependence on fickle foreign markets. \n \n\n \n Mene, elected secretary general of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in February 2020, tells\u00a0 The Africa Report : \u201cI don\u2019t want anybody to be under the illusion this is going to be easy.\u00a0It\u2019s going to be difficult, but we\u2019ve got to do it.\u201d \n \n\n \n Africa\u2019s over-reliance on exporting primary commodities is detrimental to its economic development and undermines its ambition for greater integration. \n \n\n \n As Mene puts it, this \u201ckeeps Africa trapped in [a] colonial model of economic trajectory\u201d. But, in dealing with trade and economy ministers from all over the continent, he says he sees a lot of goodwill. \n \n\n \n \u201cEverybody wants to see Africa industrialising.\u00a0Everybody wants to see a digital economy on the continent. Everybody wants to see the continent leapfrogging into the Fourth Industrial Revolution,\u201d Mene says. \n \n\n \n This will take reducing barriers to trade and eliminating non-tariff barriers and barriers to intra-Africa investment. All of that requires economic actors on the continent to\u00a0take a holistic view of the trade ecosystem. \n \n\n \n Mene explains: \u201cWe have to reconfigure Africa\u2019s supply chain. We have to reconfigure and relook at how we establish value chains [\u2026] in a way that [makes us] more self-sufficient as a continent.\u201d \n \n\n \n During his nomination, Mene got a taste of the\u00a0diplomatic skills required to make a continental institution work\u00a0and the role of competing national interests. Nigeria is one of the most reluctant countries to take part in the AfCFTA; President Muhammadu Buhari has\u00a0closed the country\u2019s western borders\u00a0to encourage more domestic rice production and fight smuggling. \n \n\n \n Abuja rejected an expert panel\u2019s report that Mene, with years of working on trade for the South African government, was the most qualified for the job. And this led to a vote in which\u00a0Mene won a two-thirds majority. \n \n\n \n \u201cWhen we talk about trade creating opportunities for people \u2013 and when we talk about trade as an instrument for development \u2013 that\u2019s what I\u2019ve seen,\u201d he says, recalling his experiences growing up in the township of KwaNobuhle. \n \n\n \n The settlement is on the outskirts of Uitenhage in Eastern Cape, a place well-known as the home of a Volkswagen vehicle assembly plant. Mene has personal experience of\u00a0how trade deals can affect a small-town community. \n \n\n \n A new world view \n \n\n \n \u201cWhen Volkswagen started exporting to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, there were almost 1,000 people who were taken from my township to go to Germany to train for the production of the new vehicles.\u00a0I saw how trade can transform people\u2019s lives.\u00a0People came back with new skills. People came back with a new world view. People came back and they were able to be part of a global value chain \u2013 not just a regional value chain,\u201d says Mene. \n \n\n \n Trade has been Mene\u2019s professional domain for most of his adult working life. The exception is the three or so years he spent working at a law firm. Mene cut his teeth at\u00a0the department of trade and industry in South Africa and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland,\u00a0where he represented his country and performed ambassadorial duties. \n \n\n \n \u201cI\u2019ve been in trade law, trade policy, [and] trade negotiations for a long time. I would say that [having spent] time at the WTO \u2013 about six years \u2013 I now know what works and what doesn\u2019t work for an international trade organisation,\u201d he tells\u00a0 The Africa Report. \n \n\n \n \u201cThat preparation is valuable because we are trying to establish a new international organisation secretariat for trade. If you come into this without the benefit of having been part of an international trade secretariat, it may be difficult,\u201d he says. \n \n\n \n The AfCFTA secretariat is modelled on the WTO in terms of its functions and its mandate.\u00a0That leaves the responsibility for implementation to the member countries. The secretariat\u2019s mandate is to help member states implement the agreement and respect their obligations. In addition,\u00a0it provides technical advice and help in capacity building. \n \n\n \n Rules of origin \n \n\n \n \u201cI was South Africa\u2019s lead [AfCFTA] negotiator for a long time. I come with the benefit of knowing what would be acceptable to member countries and what would not be acceptable,\u201d he adds. \n \n\n \n In addition to his trade expertise,\u00a0Mene speaks three languages: isiXhosa, English and French.\u00a0He speaks the latter \u201conly after midnight, when I feel more relaxed\u201d. \n \n\n \n That relaxation and the French language will come in handy in negotiations that will almost certainly take much longer than policymakers expect. The WTO is still negotiating the Doha Development Round, and that has taken more than 20 years, he points out. \n \n\n \n \u201cIt is still not concluded. Every trade agreement I\u2019ve ever worked on is never concluded on time,\u201d Mene says. There are ongoing negotiations about the\u00a0implementation phase of the AfCFTA\u00a0agreement. \n \n\n \n Although there is a lot of outstanding work, \u201cwe are at about 80% concluded on rules of origin\u201d. Those rules are critical because they determine how much of a final good will have to be \u2018Made in Africa\u2019 in order to benefit from the AfCFTA. \n \n\n \n Countries with infant industrials do not want a neighbour to be able to import a Chinese T-shirt and sew a stripe on it to call it African. \n \n\n \n But supply chains are not yet set up to deliver Beninese cotton to the textile factories of Lesotho or Mauritius. So there are more late nights and s\u2019il vous pla\u00eets on the horizon to get over this finish line and to plot out workable measures for each stage of the AfCFTA\u2019s growth and development. \n "

"‘AfCFTA is going to be difficult, but we\u2019ve got to do it’

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