African Union (AU) Commissioner for Trade and Industry Albert Muchanga told Sputnik that Nigeria and Benin, two out of the three states that still have not signed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, will come on board by an extraordinary AU session in July
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th June, 2019) African Union (AU) Commissioner for Trade and Industry Albert Muchanga told Sputnik that Nigeria and Benin, two out of the three states that still have not signed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, will come on board by an extraordinary AU session in July.
The free trade agreement, signed by 52 out of 55 AU member states, aims to create a tariff-free African continent that can help boost intra-African trade and local businesses as well as spur industrialization and job growth. The 12th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union on AfCFTA will be held on July 7 in Niamey, Niger.
"The three countries yet to sign are Nigeria, Benin and Eritrea. As for Nigeria and Benin, their delegations have assured me that they are going to sign any time soon. I am very confident that by the time we go to extraordinary summit on July 7, they should be ready to sign. That is the confidence I have. We are still discussing with the delegation of Eritrea, there are few questions, so that they fully understand the agreement ... Overtime they are going to also come on board," Muchanga said.
According to Muchanga, the heads of African states and governments are set to address some operational issues of FTA, including to launch a number of supporting instruments, during the upcoming AU extraordinary session.
"What remains [to be done] is facilitate operationalization. On July 7, the African Union heads of sates and governments are going to launch the operational phase of the African continental free trade area and they are going to unveil or launch a number of supporting instruments. These are rules of origin; tariff concessions; non-tariff barriers; monitoring, reporting and elimination mechanisms; digital permits and settlement platform and the African trade observatory," Muchanga added.
The commissioner pointed out that those countries that signed the free trade agreement would significantly benefit including from interconnectivity and deep integration of the participants' markets.
"There is also benefit of interconnectivity. There is going to be development of trade-related infrastructure, there will be efficient movement of goods and services because of this interconnectivity. There is also going to be market integration. We are going to link capital markets; we are going to facilitate a free movement of people, so the benefits are very wide-ranging," Muchanga noted.
Muchanga is currently visiting Moscow for a five-day Annual Meeting of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), which began on Tuesday.
