South African parliament ratifies AfCFTA
he South African parliament recently ratified the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade
Area (AfCFTA). Welcoming the ratification, trade and industry minister
Rob Davies said South Africa is expected to deposit the instrument of
ratification during the 32nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the
African Union in February 2019.
The
agreement, comprising 55 African nations, enters into force once 22
member states deposit their instruments of ratification. It will then
turn the largest free trade Area across the globe.
An integrated
market of over a billion people in Africa with a combined gross domestic
product of nearly $3.3 trillion will be created, South African
newspapers reports quoted Davies as saying.
The United Nations
Economic Commission for Africa estimates that the AfCFTA will increase
intra-Africa trade from the current 10-16 per cent to nearly 52 per cent
by 2022.
The
AfCFTA was launched during an Extra-Ordinary Summit of African Union
Heads of State and Government on March 21 this year in Kigali, Rwanda.
South
Africa signed the agreement during the 31st Ordinary Session of the
Assembly of the African Union in July 2018 in Nouakchott, Mauritania.
Forty nine countries have signed the agreement, while Kenya, Ghana,
Rwanda, Eswatini, Chad, Niger, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Guinea Conakry
have deposited their instruments of ratification.
The Minister said
the AfCFTA is anchored on the development integration approach, which
places emphasis on market integration, infrastructure development, and
industrial development to boost intra-Africa trade. (DS)
