Smaller African nations should not fear but embrace AfCFTA, says ECA’s Songwe

Abstract

Smaller African economies should not fear the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)but rather embrace the accord for the benefits it will bring to the continent through expanded intra-African trade, says Economic Commission for Africa’s(ECA) Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe. In a speech read on her behalf at the 7 meeting of the African Union Ministers of Trade (AMOT) at the on-going Intra-African Trade Fair in Cairo, Egypt, by David Luke, Coordinator of the ECA’s African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC), Ms. Songwe said there was nothing for smaller nations to fear. “Beyond central technical considerations in relation to the design of AfCFTA modalities, ECA’s assessment reveals that smaller economies should certainly not fear the AfCFTA reforms but rather embrace it; particularly, as African LDCs would be those getting the largest increase in intra-African exports of industrial products,” she said. Ms. Songwe said the ECA is strongly committed to continue supporting AU member States towards the successful realization of the AfCFTA.