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- Africa could be the world’s largest free trade area by area when its treaty becomes fully operational by 2030
- The agreement seeks to reduce or eliminate cross-border tariffs on most goods and facilitate the movement of capital and people.
- Eritrea, which has a largely closed economy, is the only stronghold of the countries recognized by the African Union.
The first goods will begin to flow under a free trade pact across Africa on Friday, the culmination of more than five years of negotiations on lowering cross-border tariffs.
The deal comes to fruition at a time when trade tensions are rising in much of the rest of the world. The 55-nation African Union will mark the occasion in a ceremony that comes just hours after the UK leaves the European Union’s single market and a new post-Brexit trade deal takes effect.
Africa could be the world’s largest free trade zone by area when its treaty becomes fully operational by 2030. The bloc has a potential market of 1.2 billion people and a combined gross domestic product of $ 2.5 trillion.
The agreement “will fundamentally change the economic fortunes of our continent,” President Cyril Ramaphosa, who holds the rotating presidency of the AU, said in a speech on Thursday.
“It is the beginning of a new era of trade between African countries, when the continent will produce the goods and services it needs, when its economies will grow, industrialize and diversify, when it will realize the great potential of its abundant natural resources.”
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