MERGE IT WITH NAFTA:

Africa's AfCFTA free trade agreement takes baby steps (Kate Hairsine, 12/05/22, Deutsche-Welle)

It's been a long time coming, but several African nations have started trading a trickle of goods under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.

Kenya has shipped locally-made car and truck batteries as well as a consignment of Kenyan-grown tea to Ghana in the past months. Rwanda has also exported processed coffee beans to the West African nation.

"It's a positive move," said Nixon Paloma, Group Finance Officer at Associated Battery Manufacturers. The firm is one of only two companies in Kenya taking part in a pilot project called the Guided Trade Initiative.

The initiative gives companies dealing in certain products in selected countries support through the AfCFTA process. The idea is to test -- and prove -- that the AfCFTA system works and get intraregional trade finally rolling under AfCFTA. As well as Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana, it includes Cameroon, Egypt, Mauritius, Tanzania and Tunisia.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 5, 2022 12:00 AM

Tweet   @brothersjudd