As the African Continental Free Trade Area(AfCFTA) agreement is set to start on July 1st, 2020 local business persons have been advised to come up with comprehensive business and investment strategies to secure a competitive position in the proposed continental market.
Tanzania is among the African Union (AU) member countries that have deposited their instruments of ratification towards the creation of a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business persons and investments, among other main objectives.
President of the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) Paul Koyi made the statement during his tour in Sumbawanga district, Rukwa region on Wednesday.
According to him, The AfCFTA is also expected to enhance competitiveness at the industry and enterprise level through exploitation of opportunities for scale production, continental market access and better reallocation of resources.
“There is a need to prepare our business persons so as to enable them to secure a competitive position in the continental market once it is launched. It will be a shame to see business persons from outside the country come and dominate Tanzania’s market,” said the TCCIA boss.
Koyi said TCCIA in collaboration with the government authorities and development partners is contemplating to consult business persons across the country through trade and investment forums with a view to building their capacities.
“I acknowledge that the government is yet to bring the matter to the Parliament for further discussion and approval, but I am informed that the matter will be tabled in the House this soon,” said Koyi.
The 18th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2012, adopted a decision to establish a Continental Free Trade Area by an indicative date of 2017. This deadline was, however, not met.
Until March 2018 when African leaders held an Extraordinary Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, during which the Agreement establishing the AfCFTA was presented for signature, along with the Kigali Declaration and the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Free Movement of Persons, Right to Residence and Right to Establishment.
In total, 44 out of the 55 AU member states including Tanzania signed the consolidated text of the AfCFTA Agreement, 47 signed the Kigali Declaration and 30 signed the Protocol on Free Movement.
According to sources, the AfCFTA will be governed by five operational instruments; 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.
The sources further indicate that the AfCFTA will bring together all 55 member states of the African Union covering a market of more than 1.2 billion people, including a growing middle class, and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US$3.4 trillion.
In terms of number of participating countries, the AfCFTA will be the world’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organisation.
Estimates from the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) suggest that the AfCFTA has the potential both to boost intra-African trade by 52.3 percent by eliminating import duties, and to double this trade if non-tariff barriers are also reduced.
