Ratification of Africa free trade given a new push

What you need to know:

The policy makers, leaders and experts are attending a three-day Intergovernmental Committee of Experts hosted by Rwanda and organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. The event ends on Thursday.

Kigali. Leaders and experts from eastern Africa are calling on member states to ratify the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) saying the arrangement will unleash huge economic potentials.

The policy makers, leaders and experts are attending a three-day Intergovernmental Committee of Experts hosted by Rwanda and organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. The event ends on Thursday.

In March, the leaders of 44 African states endorsed the AfCFTA but so far only 12 countries have ratified the agreement.

In East Africa, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have already ratified the agreement.

The regional experts are excited about the agreement which they say has a potential of reaching a market of 1.2 billion people worth $2.5 trillion.

“We need more countries from our region to ratify this agreement. It will actually accelerate economic growth, trade development and industrialisation,” said Rwanda’s Finance and Economic Planning minister Uzziel Ndagijimana during the opening remarks.

The deal aims at creating a single market across the continent and facilitate free movement of goods.

If ratified, the trade agreement would result in the largest free-trade area in terms of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organisation.

“Eastern African countries are one of the fastest growing but they are below their potentials. AfCTA can help to unleash the potentials. It’s time the member countries fast-tracked their ratification processes,” said Mr Andrew Mold, the acting director of the Office of ECA in Eastern Africa.

The biggest trading challenge for the Eastern African countries is said to be non-tariff barriers which make the cost of doing business in the region high.