President Emmerson Mnangagwa is in Niamey, Niger where he joins other Heads of State and Government for the 12th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTFA).
The Summit is running under the theme “Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Towards Durable Solutions to forced displacement in Africa.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Sibusiso Moyo said that the AfCTA was signed in Kigali in 2018 with two other agreements. Said Moyo:
Firstly, there was an agreement on free air movement within the continent. Then the second was free movement of people agreement and the final was the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement.
All these agreements were signed in Kigali last year, particularly the AfCFTA, which was to only come into fruition after 22-member countries had signed the agreement and launched the instruments of ratification with the AU.
Our President will join other colleagues to be one of the founding members of the AfCFTA.
This means that it is now going to be operationalised and as a nation, we must be ready to participate in the US$4 trillion markets of the African continent.
Minister Moyo urged local industries to take advantage of the opportunities that the coming into force of AfCTA will provide as it presents opportunities for them to export goods and services to the African market.