Panafrican News Agency

Kagame calls for "hard work" before final ratification of AfCTA

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) -  Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Monday urged African Governments to work hard towards having the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), which is yet to come into force.

 

The declaration comes after 44 African nations signed in March 2018, a framework agreement for an African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aimed at paving the way for a liberalized market for goods and services across the continent.

 

Latest reports indicate that as of March 2019, 21 countries had ratified the agreement with only one more ratification needed for the agreement to come into force.

 

Speaking at the opening session of the 2019 Africa CEO forum which is taking place in Kigali, President Kagame stressed that the continental agreement does not solve problems until people make it work.

 

"We don’t expect to put a mechanism and expect it to work, it needs an effort that people will have to undertake to make it work," he said.

 

According to him, there is nobody [currently] questioning whether CFTA is the right way to go or whether it is going to give us benefits.

 

"It is the only way to go if we want to maximize the opportunities for the benefit of our continent," the Rwandan leader said.

 

The AfCTFA was launched on 21 March last year during an extraordinary summit of the African Union (AU) in Kigali, Rwanda, with the signing of the AfCFTA by African leaders from 44 countries.

 

The version endorsed in March included a framework agreement as well as protocols on trade in goods, trade in services, and dispute settlement, along with various annexes and other legal texts.

 

Latest UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) study showed that the AfCFTA could lead to a 52 percent increase above the baseline in intra-African trade flows by 2022.

-0- PANA TWA/VAO 25March2019