Dar among first seven to trade under AfCFTA rules  

Tanzania is among the first seven countries that will officially start trading under the auspicious of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) rules coming next June, the government said.

The Minister for Investment, Industry and Trade, Dr Ashatu Kijaji, said the country should capitalise on the advantage of being in the first phase to maximise its export to the continent.

“We should be ready to seize the opportunity of large African market,” said Dr Kijaji when representing President Samia Suluhu Hassan at the 17th special meeting of heads of state and government of the African Union (AU) held in Niamey, Niger, recently.

Other countries in phase one, where East African Community states dominated, are Cameroon, Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, Mauritius and Rwanda.

The meeting held under the chairmanship of the Senegal’s President, Mr Macky Sall, among the issues discussed were two main agendas which are industrialisation and economic diversification and the AfCFTA.

Dr Kijaji said on the industrialisation and economic diversification agenda, the heads of state and government agreed to set joint strategies for the development of industries and the strengthening of the economy of the continent.

“That includes setting the right policies and plans to facilitate industrial development in Africa,” she said through a statement yesterday.

Furthermore, she said in the AfCFTA agenda the meeting received updates on the progress made in the implementation of the continent’s free trade area agreement.

She said another step reached in the implementation of the AfCFTA agreement was the establishment of a programme to enable business to start taking place under the rules and procedures of AfCFTA.

Moreover, Dr Kijaji said the heads of state and government of the AU have recognised and commended the contribution of President Samia Suluhu Hassan in encouraging the participation of African women and youth to take advantage of the AfCFTA agreement and participate fully in business.

Under AfCFTA, the country’s businesspersons should put on mind a market of 1.3 billion people, with a combined GDP of 3.4 trillion US dollars across the continent. Dar es Salaam has the population of about 62 million people and a GDP of about 68 billion US dollars.

The AfCFTA agreement will reduce tariffs among member countries and cover policy areas such as trade facilitation and services and regulatory measures such as sanitary standards and technical barriers to trade.

The Niger meeting also announced the completion of discussions on investment protocols, competition policies and intellectual property rights that will be adopted at the next meeting of heads of state and government next February 2023 after being reviewed by the Committee of Ministers of Law.