February 2, 2022
Albert Baron Ansu
It is the initiative of the Africa Union that there should be south-south cooperation in promoting unfettered trade. This is an imperative; considering the socio-economic morass COVID 19 has bequeathed on the continent; to even make the aid contradiction on growth maximization blunter.
So it is welcome news that a pan Africa solution must be charted for free trade at the continental level.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Council of Ministers Responsible for Trade agreed that Trading under AfCFTA regime proceeds on the basis of Agreed Rules of Origin covering 87.7% of total tariff lines.
Sierra Leone must up its game to fits into the ongoing negotiations. It will require a gamut of legal reforms to remove binding constraints along the way. The ministry of trade and other line ministries must rise to the occasion.
The process is at full throttle. In Ghana a fortnight ago a high level ministerial meeting was held with a clear cut objective.
A press release from the AfCFTA secretariat in Ghana put it lucidly: “The overall objective of the meeting was to assess the status of negotiations on outstanding issues and agree on the steps towards the start of commercially meaningful trading under the AfCFTA. In addition to the progress report from the Secretary-General of AfCFTA, His Excellency Wamkele Mene, the Ministers considered a report of Senior Trade Officials who met in Accra, Ghana, from 24 to 27 January 2022. “
Countries such as Seychelles, Tanzania and Burundi have reportedly made progress in terms of submission of their instruments for ratification. The field is getting crowded with some forty countries onboard.
The commitment of this government in this initiative is beyond doubt as upon assuming office in 2018 President signed the agreement and parliament later ratified in the same period.
Where unemployment remains intractable for the depth of the malaise that was inherited in constricting space of incentive for private sector expansion, this initiative becomes a golden opportunity to go for at a time when Sierra Leone is making headlines in the times as one of the potentially thriving touristic destination.
The accelerated pace of the conversation on this initiative signals seriousness among Africa leaders and this has come out clearly in the recent meeting held in Ghana. We have gathered that basis of measuring the progress was handy.
The Council of Ministers noted the progress made towards the conclusion of negotiations on Rules of Origin and agreed that trading under AfCFTA regime proceeds on the basis of agreed rules of origin covering 87.7% of total tariff lines and requested that necessary steps be undertaken to gazette the schedules of tariff concessions, in accordance with the applicable national legislations.
What does the foregoing means in other words? The African Continental Free Trade Agreement aspires to create a Continental Free Trade Area which will bring together about fifty-four African countries with a combined population of more than one billion people and a combined gross domestic product of more than US $3.4 trillion.
In the geo-political nature of doing business, where Africa is not going to be exclusionist going forward with this plan, we are beginning to see the synergies that will come outside the continent to provide the needed leverage for desired mid and long term outcomes. This point is important because driving the process hinges on technological preparedness.
It is therefore good news that: “Ministers at the Ghna meeting noted the mobilisation of a facility of US$ 1 billion by Afreximbank for the development of the Automotive value chain and to support industrialisation in Africa.
What is evolving could have been touted several decades back and the fact that it had delayed to come to fruition is by no means a reason to be pessimistic about its roll out in the not too distant future. For the commitments of states are increasing and discussions have been measured and compartmentalized, if you like.
The Ministers hailed the Operationalization of the Pan-African Payments and Settlements System (PAPSS) and its successful commercial launch on 13 January 2022, in Accra, Ghana.
The gains are falling in place in leaps and bounds. And it must be seen as work in progress but we must be supportive without the diluting its essence in the mire of the partisan madness when it comes to the passage of necessary legislations for tariff harmonisations as a core requirement of country specific instruments to be submitted.