Credit: au.int /  Common Free Trade Area (CFTA)  seeks to create a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business persons and investments, and thus pave the way for accelerating the establishment of the Continental Customs Union and the African customs union.s

DIPLOMATIC  TIMES  STAFF

African leaders signed a landmark free  trade agreement at an African Union summit in Niger Sunday to unite 1.3 billion people and create a $3.4 trillion 55-nation economic bloc. The operational phase of the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA was launched, after a day-long summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in the Nigerien capital city Niamey. The AfCFTA will be governed by five operational instruments, i.e. the Rules of Origin; the online negotiating forum; the monitoring and elimination of non-tariff barriers; a digital payments system and the African Trade Observatory. Each one was launched by different Heads of State and Government that included President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi of Egypt who is current Chairperson of the AU; Mr. Moussa Faki Makamat, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission; and President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, who is the Champion of the AfCFTA. 

The AfCFTA will be one of the largest free trade areas since the formation of the World Trade Organisation, given Africa’s current population of 1.2 billion people, which is expected to grow to 2.5 billion by 2050

–  AU statement. 

The AfCFTA got a big boost with Africa’s most populous nation, NIGERIA, signed onto the pact. 

Credit: africanunion.int /  Group photo of summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in the Nigerien capital Niamey

Fifty-four out of 55 AU member states agreed to the deal in March, with only Eritrea holding out. It took African leaders four years to reach an agreement on the continental free-trade zone, which is expected to usher in a new era of development in Africa.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi stressed the need for the establishment of linkages with the private sector and the business and investment communities, while also calling for the involvement of the youth who will “continue the march” towards development, according to an AU press statement. 

“The eyes of the world are turned towards Africa,” 

-Egyptian President and AU Chairman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi

However, some economic experts believe  the AU still faces huge challenges in implementing the deal including poor roads and railway lines, violence-hit areas, strict border controls and rampant corruption .