Executive Director’s Message for April 2018 : The African Continental Free Trade (AfCFTA) Agreement

March 21^st, 2018 marked a historic day for Africa in its vision to build an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa with the signing of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) by 44 African Countries in the Rwandan capital, Kigali. The message to the World was loud and clear to say that Africa can come together as one and speak in One Voice. The AfCFTA will make the continent the largest free trade area created since the formation of the World Trade Organisation. The progressive trade liberalization of Africa in the years ahead will mean new opportunities for African companies to compete and cooperate across borders and build continental reach.

The AfCFTA is a flagship project of Agenda 2063, the African Union’s long-term vision for an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa. The Free Trade Area has the potential to transform the fortunes of millions of Africans by boosting trading ties between Africa’s nations. President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya put it succinctly when he said during the signing ceremony: “The AfCFTA means an end to poverty. The AfCFTA means prosperity for our continent. The AfCFTA means jobs for our young people who today struggle and are fleeing our continent. The AfCFTA means peace and security because we have gainfully engaged our population. The AfCFTA means Africa being able to be self-reliant. The AfCFTA means the African Union meeting to discuss what to do with our prosperity and not what to do with the problems we suffer.”

Indeed CAFOR sees the AfCFTA as the apparatus that has raised high expectations across the continent, especially for the young Africans on the continent. As the Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat put it, “Our peoples, our business community and our youth, in particular, cannot wait any longer to see the lifting of the barriers that divide our continent, hinder its economic take-off and perpetuate misery, even though Africa is abundantly endowed with wealth”.

Currently, Africa trades far less with itself than it does with the rest of the world. Intra-Africa trade stands at about 16%, compared with 19% intra-regional trade in Latin America, 51% in Asia, 54% in North America and 70% in Europe. The United Nations Economic for Africa estimates that the AfCFTA has the potential to boost intra-Africa trade by 53% by eliminating import duties and non-tariff barriers. It could create an African market of over 1.2 billion people with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $2.5 trillion.

CAFOR is bent on promoting policy change and measures for ensuring an enabling policy environment for youth to engage in the innovative enterprise in Africa. We also want to make sure that we translate ideas into action on the ground by testing technological innovations and institutionalizing what works, and promote relationships of trust and meaningful multi-stakeholder partnerships for the achievement of education goals on the continent, with a stronger emphasis on youths.

However, we must not lose sight of both the admiration and scepticism that these African initiatives are being greeted with both within and outside of the continent. There are those who feel that the continent has come a long way and has rapidly achieved what African experts and politicians negotiated to be the primary texts establishing this Free Trade Area. There are, on the other hand, those who also feel that many actors, including Africans, have seen many proclamations and declarations remaining obsolete with many commitments but without effective execution and have come to doubt the strength of the promise of Africa’s leaders on this issue.

It is therefore imperative that this signing must make a radical break from what transpired in the past, and must, thus, strengthen the confidence of all Africans, especially the youths in this endeavour and demonstrate an ability to fulfil their aspirations. Africa, at this level, must prove that its decisions can materialise.

Success will be elusive unless we purposefully harness the potential of the continent’s young people. African leaders have already given credence to this view and identified youth development and science, technology and innovation as the main pillars of Agenda 2063. A significant transformation is in the making and governments in Africa must capitalize on the potential of Africa’s youth to accomplish the African transformation agenda, as a whole. With the changing times, young Africans are now growing up in an increasingly free and fair continent. They are becoming dynamic, forward-looking and best positioned to find innovative solutions to local challenges using science and technology.  We must, therefore, make the conditions suitable for this.