Lagos, Nigeria, November 4. 2018 (ECA) – The 2018 Africa Trade Forum ended in Lagos, Nigeria, with delegates agreeing that while governments need to set a conducive environment through collective and coordinated actions for the successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, the private sector should to be the main driver of the AfCFTA.
Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria, November 3, 2018 (ECA) – The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) has huge potential to move Africa to dizzy heights of development on the platform of the African Union’s Agenda 2063, says Nigeria’s Industry, Trade and Investment Minister, Mr. Okechukwu E. Enelamah.
Speaking at the 2018 Africa Trade Forum in Lagos, Mr. Enelamah said both the AfCFTA and Agenda 2063 provide the legal and policy framework for addressing the challenges before the African Union and seizing its opportunities.
Lagos, Nigeria, November 2, 2018 (ECA) – There is unanimity in Nigeria on the immense benefits of promoting intra-African trade for development, job creation and poverty reduction, Nigeria’s Vice President, Mr. Yemi Osinbajo, on Friday.
In a keynote at the 2018 Africa Trade Forum in Lagos, Mr. Osinbajo, whose country is yet to sign the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), said Nigeria was not against the pact but was continuing to consult all stakeholders to ensure concerns and challenges are addressed, ostensibly before the country can put pen to paper.
Lagos, Nigeria, October 31st, 2018 – The Africa Trade Forum 2018, hosted by Nigeria’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, and co-organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), The Rockefeller Foundation, and the African Union Commission (AUC), is set to take place on 2-3 November, 2018 in Lagos.
The prevailing story of Africa’s exports since 2000 has been that of the strong impact of the commodities supercycle. As Figure 1 shows, the bulk of Africa’s impressive almost-three-fold increase in exports, from $194 billion in 2000 to $544 billion in 2014, is due mostly to the expansion of extractive exports and the commodity price boom. This has contributed to Africa’s headline growth figures but has not been conducive to the economic transformation Africa requires to industrialize and realize long-run sustainable growth.
The Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) will cover an African market of 1.2 billion people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.2 trillion, across all 55 member States of the African Union. In terms of numbers of participating countries, the CFTA will be the world’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Following nearly 11 years of negotiations, started in 2003 between West African countries and the European Union (EU), the 15 countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) plus Mauritania endorsed, in July 2014, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)for signature. In December 2014, all EU countries and 13 West African countries signed the Agreement. Pending the ratification and entry into force of the regional Agreement, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire separately signed interim EPAs with the EU in 2016, which are being provisionally applied.
The present policy brief draws primarily on research materials and toolkits prepared by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to highlight the potential for industrial development under the African Continental Free Trade Area, in order for countries to make optimal use of the agreement through critical policies and tailored strategies.