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The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretary-General has assured Africans that the implementation of the programme will help abate the prevalent conflicts and insecurity in the region.
His Excellency Wamkele Mene who was speaking at a forum themed “A vision for development in Africa”, said the way forward is to equitably distribute the proceeds from the trading activities among participating countries, irrespective of their levels of development.
“Ensuring that no group, sector or country feels marginalised or excluded from the benefits of the AfCFTA, will help to address the root causes of conflict, give hope to our citizenry and set us on the road towards prosperity, seizing this century as ours,” he said.
The AfCFTA is estimated to increase trade among the African countries, attract investment, create job opportunities and more security for all.
The continent is not noted for intra-trading due to the countries’ over reliance on primary commodities export to traditional markets in the North on one hand, and import of finished products on the other hand as compared to European countries who trade highest among themselves with a rating of 70% and Asia rating 51%. Thus, Africa’s trading among its countries constitute not more than 18 per cent, according to the Secretary-General.
The World Bank has indicated however that if fully implemented, the programme will “boost regional income by 7% or $450 billion, speed up wage growth for women, and lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035″.
Skilled and unskilled workers in the region are also expected to benefit from the economic activities as their wages will be boosted by 9.8% and 10.3% respectively.
H.E. Wamkele Mene added, “The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) projects that the value of intra-African exports will increase between 15% (or $50 billion) and nearly 25% (or $69.1 billion) in 2040, relative to the baseline without the AfCFTA in place”.
The comment of the Secretary-General coupled with the projection addresses concerns security analysts have raised, who have attributed the conflicts and insecurities in the region specifically the coup d’état and the heightened activities of armed robbers in the regions to economic hardship typified by the high levels of unemployment among other things.
H.E Mene stated that despite the ravaging effects of the covid-19 pandemic on economies of which Africa is no exception, the AfCFTA Secretariat is “determined to make a success” of the opportunity.
