THE East African Business Council (EABC) and the GIZ- Support to East African Market-Driven and People-Centred Integration Programme II has kick started the National Private Sector Sensitisation Workshop on African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement on Trade in Goods Protocol in Kigali, Rwanda.
Giving his remarks, EABC Vice Chair, Mr Denis Karera said the AfCFTA Agreement envisages to boost intra-African trade through the gradual elimination of over 90 per cent tariffs on goods and the removal of non-tariff barriers and trade restrictions on goods and services.
He urged Rwanda private sector players to educate themselves on AfCFTA and take the leading role in the AfCFTA agenda.
He said the EABC-GIZ Sensitisation Workshop on AfCFTA will impart business people in Rwanda with knowledge on interpreting the AfCFTA Agreement on Trade in Goods in a bid to boost Rwanda.
The Director General of Trade and Industry in the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Rwanda, Mr Antoine Kajangwe, stated that the first and important AfCFTA advantage is the progressive reduction of import duties (tariffs) to zero by 2025 to 90 per cent of the products nearly 6,000 products.
He showcased how Rwandans have started trading under AfCFTA by giving an example of the first shipment of Igere Coffee to Ghana in September 2022 under the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative.
He challenged other private stakeholders to contact her so they can understand how she made it and the challenges she underwent in exporting to Ghana. Mr Antoine Kajangwe said that Rwanda has already done studies on the market access competitiveness on prioritised sectors under AfCFTA and plans are underway for the private sector stakeholders to validate the findings of the studies. The studies will guide Rwandan private sector in penetrating other African Countries such as DRC, Ghana and Cote D’ Ivoire.
Mr Kajangwe said sectors such as Manufacturing and agro processing are perceived to be less competitive but under AfCFTA these sectors in Rwanda can be very competitive when compared with other western African countries due to economies of scale.
“Let’s take advantage of the market of the 1.2 billion people with a combined Gross Domestic Product valued at USD3.4 trillion which will be created by AfCFTA” Kajangwe said.
He thanked EABC for coming up with private sector sensitisation workshop for private sector.
On his part, EABC CEO, Mr John-Bosco Kalisa urged the Government of South Sudan to ratify the AfCFTA Agreement. He elaborated that Rwanda’s goods exports to other countries in Africa was 1.56 billion US dollars in 2021 while imports from Africa stood at 3.73 billion US dollars.
Top exports from Rwanda include petroleum and gas, medical instruments, cereals, vegetable oils, sugar, fish and coffee.
The sensitisation workshop convened 30 businesses in Rwanda who learnt about AfCFTA Trade in Goods Protocol and its annexes (especially Rules of Origin, Tariff Concession and Non-Tariff Barriers) and implications to businesses in the EAC bloc.
Statistics show, in 2021 intra-Africa goods exports reached USD 82.2 billion, and EAC exports of goods to Africa stood at USD 7.9 billion composing 42 per cent share of EAC total exports of goods to the world (USD 18.7 billion). Top EAC exports to Africa included precious stones, coffee, tea, cement, animal fats, mineral oils & iron and steel.
The private sector players are the main implementers of the AfCFTA Agreement while Governments facilitate trade and investment by creating a conducive business environment. East Africa as bloc has great potential to export vegetables, tea, rice, coffee, sugar, textile products, soap, sesame seeds, edible oils, tubers and milk to the continent.