African Continental Free Trade Area opens office in New Delhi

21 Jun '21

2 min read

Pic: AfCFTA

An office of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was opened in New Delhi at the Ghanaian Embassy, where several Indian companies committed to enter Africa and take advantage of the free trade agreement, which, when implemented, aims to raise intra-African trade by 52.3 per cent. The office will support African efforts in elevating the potential impact on bilateral trade and investment.

AfCFTA aims to expand intra-African trade through better harmonization and coordination of trade liberalization and facilitation regimes and instruments across sub-regions and at the continental level. As part of the agreement, countries have committed to removing tariffs on 90 per cent of goods with the remaining 10 per cent of items to be phased at a later stage.

“The vision of Indian leadership of Atmanirbhar Bharat and the African ‘collective self-reliance’ has long been an integral component attempted by African leaders and policymakers, to find Indo Africa-driven solutions to African problems in trade and commerce,” said Varun Jain, chairman of the India Africa Trade Council (IATC) committee for AfCFTA.

Indian trade will help all the African countries who have embraced the notion of ‘regionalism’ and ‘regional integration’ as part of their broader aspirations towards continental integration with this agreement, an official press release said.

By 2030, the African market size is expected to reach 1.7 billion people, with a combined and cumulative consumer and business spending of $6.7 trillion.

Jain will lead a big business delegation to African nations after the pandemic gets over to expand the potential benefits.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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