To date, 54 African Union member states have signed the AfCFTA Agreement, 47 of which have ratified it. With the potential to unlock a market of 1.4 billion people and a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion, the regional integration project will significantly transform the African continent. Experts believe it is crucial that the expansion of the Guided Trade Initiative is aligned with the wider objectives of the AfCFTA, which envisages a 53% increase in intra-African trade by 2035.
The second edition of the AfCFTA Business Forum, dubbed Biashara Afrika 2024, will be held at the Kigali Convention and Exhibition Village from 9 to 11 October 2024. Organised jointly with the Rwandan government, under the theme ‘Dare to invent the future of the AfCFTA, Biashara Afrika will provide an engaging platform for ongoing dialogue between Africa’s public and private sectors on the challenges and opportunities of the process of building regional and continental value chains and establishing reliable supply chain networks. AfCFTA’s Guided Trade Initiative (GTI), launched in Accra, Ghana in October 2022, will be one of the major themes of this meeting.
“The Africa we want is a united Africa, a prosperous Africa and an Africa at peace. There will never be peace, prosperity or unity without integration. That’s why the CFTA is one of the instruments that can help Africa come together in its own interests.”
Moussa Faki Mahamat, President of the AU’s Commission – TChad
As part of the operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, 24 new countries are expected to join the Guided Trade Initiative by the end of 2024. This initiative aims to test the operational, institutional and legal environment of the AfCFTA agreement. Already joined by 8 countries, including Ghana, Cameroon, Rwanda, Kenya, Mauritius, Egypt, Tanzania and Nigeria, it facilitates the movement of 96 products benefiting from tariff preferences, including pharmaceuticals, rubber, pasta, tea, coffee, steel, wood and dried fruit. For the AfCFTA General Secretariat, one of the key elements of the initiative is the use of the Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), a revolutionary financial market infrastructure that facilitates instant cross-border payments in local currencies on African market
«Today we are marking 96 products that are traded by seven countries. Next year we perhaps will have a chance to double or triple that number. But never underestimate don’t underestimate the determination that we have to make sure that the founding mothers and fathers that their sacrifice was not in vain.»
Wamkele Mene, AfCFTA General Secretary – South Africa
The expansion of the Guided Trade Initiative is in line with the wider objectives of the AfCFTA, which envisages a 53% increase in intra-African trade, transforming the continent into an attractive market with a potential consumer base of $1.3 billion, according to estimates by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).