African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Council of Ministers Responsible for Trade has agreed on steps towards the start of commercially meaningful trading under the regime, its Secretariat disclosed Sunday.
The council agreed that trading under the AfCFTA should proceed on the basis of the agreed-upon Rules of Origin covering 87.7 percent of total tariff lines, the Secretariat said in a statement.
The 8th Meeting of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers Responsible for Trade was convened in Accra, the capital of Ghana over the weekend.
The meeting noted the progress made in AfCFTA institutions, including the Dispute Settlement Body and the Establishment of the Appellate Body.
On trading services, negotiations are in an advanced stage, with 46 member states having submitted their schedules for specific commitments, the statement said.
The ministers said that the negotiations on trading services would be concluded by June 30.
They mentioned the progress made on trade facilitation on the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor and trading documents under the AfCFTA.
The ministers hailed the successful commercial launch on Jan. 13 of the Pan-African Payments and Settlements System.
They also noted the mobilization of a facility of 1 billion U.S. dollars by the African Export-Import Bank for the development of the automotive value chain and to support industrialization in Africa. The meeting also noted the ongoing efforts to collaborate with the private sector and the conclusion of the AfCFTA private sector engagement plan.
The AfCFTA, founded in March 2018 in the Rwandan capital city of Kigali, has so far garnered 54 members of the African Union, with trade commencing in January last year.
Once fully operational, the African free trade accord has the potential of boosting intra-Africa trade by more than 52 percent by 2022, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
(Reuters)