Accra, 2 February 2022 (TDI): The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) met for the eighth time in Ghana. Ministers responsible for trade held talks between the 28th and 29th of January.
The meeting concluded with new agreements on rules of origin with a move towards reduced tariffs on original goods within Africa to promote trade.
Rules of origin are the criteria needed to determine the national origin of a product. They are instrumental in ensuring the removal of tariffs as most duties are derived on the basis of inputs.
Chairperson of the African Union Ministers of Trade, Ebrahim Patel said that these new rules could cover about 88% of goods currently under tariff restrictions. He added that this agreement was a breakthrough and would allow for full-scale trade among the members of AfCFTA which will greatly boost Africa’s economic growth.
“For ordinary citizens on our continent, this means more jobs, more economic opportunities, and Africa’s opportunity to say we want to industrialize. We cannot simply remain the generators of raw materials.” -Ebrahim Patel.
The 8th Meeting of the Council of Ministers of the #AfCFTA equally took place on 28.01.2022. The Ministers responsible for Trade convened to deliberate on the status of the AfCFTA and to decide on the forward in regards to the implementation process of the AfCFTA. pic.twitter.com/q5Tx6dq0di
— Wamkele Mene (@MeneWamkele) January 29, 2022
The Secretary-General of AfCFTA, Wamkele Mene, added that the conclusion of these talks was a major milestone towards the implementation of the free trade pact, He also added that a new payment system, the Pan African Payments and Settlements platform had been launched to help member states trade with a single currency.
The cost of currency conversion in Africa amounts to about $5 billion a year, additionally, there is a general lack of exchange facilities that further hurt trade prospects.
“Now that we have 87.7 percent of rules of origin agreed, we are now in the position for member states to gazette these legal instruments at the national level so that countries can apply these rules of origin from a customs point of view.” -Wamkele Mene.
Negotiations on trade in services continue with 46 member states submitting their schedule of specific commitments. Negotiations are set to conclude by 30th June 2022.
