NAIROBI, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Experts began a three-day meeting on Monday in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi to promote trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
The first conference on AfCFTA implementation strategies gathered the United Nations and African Union (AU) as well as government officials from more than 40 countries across Africa to review ways to liberalize trade in the continent.
Stephen Karingi, the director of the regional integration and trade division at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), said in his opening remarks that the AfCFTA holds the promise for the continent to overcome the colonial legacy of small and fragmented markets and replace them with a single market of more than 1.4 billion people.
"The single continental market is expected to create the economy of scale to attract large-scale investment in manufacturing, regional value chains, and industrialization," Karingi said.
He observed that a single African market will also foster the diversification of African economies, creating resilience to withstand economic, health, and food security shocks.
According to the AfCFTA secretariat, actual trading started in January 2021, and to date, the continental trade agreement has been ratified by 47 of the 55 African Union members.
Albert Muchangi, the AU commissioner for economic development, trade, tourism, industry and minerals, said the AfCFTA is the launch pad for deeper continental integration because it will remove barriers to trade within the continent.
Muchangi added that some of the sectors that have been prioritized for investment in the AfCFTA include pharmaceuticals, baby food, apparel, textiles, and automobile industries.
Jide Okeke, the coordinator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Regional Program for Africa, said the AfCFTA could be a major catalyst for structural transformation if the agreement is effectively implemented.
Okeke noted that a single African market is also expected to provide young people with employment and improved quality of life and, in the process, enhance peace and security in the continent. ■
