AfCFTA, an important step towards African integration: Coalition for Dialogue on Africa
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is an important step towards the continent's integration, according to Mrs. Souad Aden-Osman, Executive Director of the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA).
"The AfCFTA, in our opinion, is not only ambitious, but the most important stage or the most important step towards economic and social integration in Africa," Mrs. Souad Aden-Osman said in an interview with PANA, on the sidelines of the "Strategic Dialogue of African Business Association on the achievement of the Continental Free Trade Area" recently organized by the institution in Addis Ababa.
"It's an initiative that will affect the lives of people, women, young people, entrepreneurship, everything that makes a bit of a social part. So we expect a lot. The task is enormous," she added.
"We hope it's going to be a fast start in seven months," she said about the effectiveness of the AfCFTA.
"Our people are waiting for this. We owe it to ourselves among Africans, consumers of ideas, concepts. Here is a case where we have defined everything and designed everything ourselves, we try, despite all the difficulties, to get there. We will certainly start in seven months, it's imminent, we'll get there!" she added with conviction.
While inviting everyone to play their part, Mrs. Souad Aden-Osman said: "At our level at the CoDA (...), we try to mobilize all those we can mobilize. We have already heard from civil society, the media and the private sector. We will have to do a number of research, more studies quickly. We need to think about how to protect women's trade, how to protect and support entrepreneurship, that's what will make a difference and allow us to evolve."
In order for all concerns to be addressed in inter-governmental processes, CoDa will have to hold one or two more dialogues in the next few days before the start of the AfCFTA, she said.
The Strategic Dialogue of Business Associations was convened by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa, to unite business organisations and major economic operators to facilitate a better understanding of the objectives, structures, sectoral policies and institutional arrangements of the AfCFTA, and thus support its operationalization to fully exploit the benefits of creating a single market on the continent.
-0- PANA IT/JSG/BBA/MA 7Dec2019
