Nat'l AfCFTA Implementation Strategy Pivotal in Leveraging Competitive Edge, Enhancing Production

Addis Ababa,June 29/2024(ENA)- Ethiopia's African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Implementation Strategy will be pivotal in identifying and leveraging the country's competitive advantages thereby enhancing  production capabilities, according to Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration.

A consultative forum on the National AfCFTA Implementation Strategy was held in Addis Ababa today.

 

Trade and Regional Integration Minister, Gebremeskel Chala said on the occasion that Ethiopia is a founding state party to the agreement. 

According to him, Ethiopia has begun the process of developing its national implementation strategy as part of its efforts to expedite the AfCFTA implementation.

This strategy will outline priority actions and strategies for the short, medium, and long term, complemented by a monitoring and evaluation framework to track progress. 

The minister said that through this strategy, Ethiopia will identify the priority sectors in which it may have competitive advantage for production and trade within the AfCFTA framework. 

This forum is a critical step in the process of developing the National African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Implementation Strategy, he added.  

"In producing this strategy, our aim is to identify and leverage Ethiopia's competitive advantages, enhance our production and trade capabilities with the AfCFTA and ensure that all segments of our society can participate in and benefit from the economic opportunities it presents."

Gebremeskel further noted that the political commitment of the government to the regional and continental integration agenda is strong and unprecedented in Ethiopia's history.

Policy Studies Institute (PSI) Director-General, Professor Beyene Petros said the AfCFTA is a flagship project of African Union’s Agenda 2063 adopted in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2018.

 

The World Bank estimates that the AfCFTA will lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035, create real income growth of around 450 million USD, and increase export within the continent by 81 percent, he added.

The AfCFTA agreement aims to unite 55 African Union member states representing over 1.4 billion people and a combined GDP of close to 3 trillion USD. 

Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Regional Integration and Trade Division Director, Stephen Karingi said on his part that a market of this size allows the private sector to strategically plan their businesses, benefiting from the scale and magnitude it offers, while overcoming traditional barriers that have historically fragmented and impoverished Africa.

 

The director further pointed out that Ethiopia is at the forefront of this continental endeavor. 

"Ethiopia played an active role in shaping the content of the AfCFTA agreement and its associated protocols during the negotiations and it became one of first 22 countries whose ratification brought the AfCFTA agreement into force in May 2019, thereby making Ethiopia a founding state party of the AfCFTA." 

Because of this pioneering role played by Ethiopia and fellow African countries, today 54 member state have signed the agreement while 47 of them have ratified it, showing their strong political and legal commitment to the initiative, Karingi elaborated.  

He stated that "today's forum marks a significant step in Ethiopia's journey towards harnessing a benefit of AfCFTA."

Ethiopia's implementation strategy for AfCFTA is believed to be pivotal not only for its own economic development but also for advancing regional integration and prosperity across Africa.

As the development of a National AfCFTA Implementation Strategy is one of the most important milestones in the implementation of the agreement, the Ethiopian Policy Studies Institute  and Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration, in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa are developing the strategy.