Addis Ababa, 26 January 2021, ECA -- The Zimbabwean business community has been urged to take advantage of the opportunities created by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to enter African markets outside of its traditional trading areas.
African Union Commission’s trade expert Willie Shumba gave the advice at a webinar on how private sector operators in Zimbabwe could benefit from the continent-wide trade bloc.
They should look beyond the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and access opportunities elsewhere on the continent, he said.
Government had created a regime for them to focus on the entire continent beyond those countries they had been trading with since the 1960s, Mr. Shumba said.
“You might think you’ve got nothing to do with Mali, nothing to do with Sierra Leone, nothing to do with Cote D’Ivoire, but if you do your market intelligence, you might find out that you have got a niche for your product in that country,” he said.
While the trade area has opened up the continent to Zimbabwean business people, he said the liberalization comes with competition from operators in the other countries as well.
The AfCFTA agreement entered into force on 30 May 2019 after 22 countries ratified the treaty – the minimum number required by the treaty. Zimbabwe ratified it on 24 May 2019, becoming one of the earliest nations to embrace the deal.
Trading commenced on 1 January this year after it was postponed for six months last year owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The AfCFTA treaty has been signed by 54 out of 55 countries, leaving Eritrea as the sole outsider to date.
The agreement aims to create the world's largest free trade area with the potential that brings together more than 1.2 billion people with a GDP of over $2.5 trillion and usher in a new era of development.
Through its African Trade Policy Centre, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has been working with the AUC and member states to deepen Africa's trade integration and effectively implement the agreement through policy advocacy and national strategy development.
The ECA also works closely with the International Trade Centre (ITC), the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and a selection of independent trade experts with the financial support of the European Union (EU) to support the implementation of the AfCFTA across the continent.
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org