A new project to help eight African countries operationalise the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) has been launched, under a partnership between the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) and the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF).
The project will support the implementation of more than 30 activities in the AfCFTA strategies of Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo, the ECA said in a press release Saturday.
“By assisting in the implementation of priority actions formulated by ECA, the project will help to create an environment where trade can be more efficient and inclusive in the eight beneficiary countries. By the end of the project, their capacity will have been enhanced towards tangible outcomes, such as jobs and other economic opportunities,» the release added.
UN Under-Secretary-General and ECA Executive Secretary Vera Songwe stressed that «this joint project can potentially push regional trade levels up from 18 per cent to 25 per cent within a decade. With proper implementation, this could also lead to a $10 billion decrease in imports from outside the continent, while boosting agriculture and industrial exports by up to $45 billion (7 per cent) and $21 billion (5 per cent) per year.»
ITFC managing director Eng Hani Salem Sonbol was quoted in the release as saying: «We recognise the importance of facilitating trade with trade finance and trade development interventions. ITFC has, since 2008, provided about $61 billion with $30 billion extended to Africa. In addition, we support the AfCFTA national strategies implementation in our Member Countries by harmonising customs codes with new tariff provisions, applying rules of origin, and training AfCFTA national stakeholders.»
The AfCFTA seeks to lead to the establishment of a common framework and sets of standards across the Africa to ensure trade cooperation, harmonization and efficiency.
It entered into force on May 30, 2019, for the 24 countries that deposited their instruments of ratification by that date. The operational phase was launched on July 7, 2019.
The zone is expected to spur intra-African trade and to have positive spillover effects on trade among African least-developed countries.
Tunisia had ratified the AfCFTA convention on July 22, 2020, which aims to create the world’s largest free trade area with the potential to bring together more than 1.2 billion people with a GDP of more than $2.5 trillion.
