Post by Trade facilitator on Nov 1, 2021 10:14:13 GMT 1
AfCFTA/China Sign MoU On Establishing Expert Group On Economic Cooperation
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and the Ministry of Commerce of China, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on establishing an expert group on Economic Cooperation.
The African Continental Free Trade Area is a Free Trade Area founded in 2018, with trade commencing as of 1st January, 2021.
It was created by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement among 54 of the 55 African Union members. The headquarters is located in Accra Ghana.
The overarching objective behind the AfCFTA is the elimination or reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers amongst the 54 countries that agreed to be members of the bloc by providing a single market for goods and services, facilitated by movement of persons in order to deepen the economic integration and prosperity.
Nigeria signed the agreement on 7th of July, 2019, ratified on November 2020 leading to the formal deposit of the instrument on 5th of December 2020 submission deadline.
The AfCFTA has been thought to be a game-changer in Africa; quite an ambitious project that is capable of lifting millions of Africans out poverty through trade liberalization and economic integration in line with the Pan African vision (Agenda 2063) of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa.
At the virtual event, the MoU was signed between Mr. Wamkele MENE, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, and Mr. Qian Keming, Vice Minister of Commerce of China.
With this MoU, the AfCFTA Secretariat and the Ministry of Commerce China agreed to establish an Expert Group to collaborate in the following areas: experience-sharing on intellectual property rights, digital trade, competition policy and exchange concepts, policies and share progress on the institutional capacity and the implementation of the AfCFTA.
In his remarks, Mr. MENE, noted that China and Africa shared common aspirations rooted in mutual cooperation and the need to build China-Africa comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership adhering to the principle of achieving shared growth and through discussion and collaboration.
He said “China is a strong partner to Africa and has provided Africa with significant development and investment support over the past decade”.
“China continues to invest in infrastructure and industrial projects in Africa via its belt and road initiative, and has opened up its market of 1.4 billion consumers to African producers”.
He also said “Indeed the AfCFTA will produce new trading and investment opportunities for China in various economic sectors, including agro-processing, automobiles, and financial technology”.
He said that the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding would chart the course of a stronger, closer and more long-standing relationship between the AfCFTA Secretariat and the Ministry of Commerce of China.
In support of the collaboration between the AfCFTA and the Ministry of Commerce of China, we are strong advocates of trade and financial integration among African nations.
Trade and financial are both about countries exporting to and importing from each other. These two are often referred to as economic integration.
It is believed that opening national borders to trade has a number of potential benefits which can promote development. For example, it creates comparative advantage, access to external finance and risk sharing opportunities amongst nations. It also encourages and enables technology transfer. Local companies working with larger foreign or domestic corporations can acquire superior knowledge and skills and transfer same to the rest of the local economy.
One of the areas to be studied properly is the area of the danger of excessive openness of local firms to competition with better established foreign companies. However, it is the responsibility of various national or regional policy makers to know whether there is an ideal level of trade and financial integration that will change economies in the desired ways.
We do hope that Africa will benefit from the impending collaboration with China.
Stay with us for more.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and the Ministry of Commerce of China, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on establishing an expert group on Economic Cooperation.
The African Continental Free Trade Area is a Free Trade Area founded in 2018, with trade commencing as of 1st January, 2021.
It was created by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement among 54 of the 55 African Union members. The headquarters is located in Accra Ghana.
The overarching objective behind the AfCFTA is the elimination or reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers amongst the 54 countries that agreed to be members of the bloc by providing a single market for goods and services, facilitated by movement of persons in order to deepen the economic integration and prosperity.
Nigeria signed the agreement on 7th of July, 2019, ratified on November 2020 leading to the formal deposit of the instrument on 5th of December 2020 submission deadline.
The AfCFTA has been thought to be a game-changer in Africa; quite an ambitious project that is capable of lifting millions of Africans out poverty through trade liberalization and economic integration in line with the Pan African vision (Agenda 2063) of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa.
At the virtual event, the MoU was signed between Mr. Wamkele MENE, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, and Mr. Qian Keming, Vice Minister of Commerce of China.
With this MoU, the AfCFTA Secretariat and the Ministry of Commerce China agreed to establish an Expert Group to collaborate in the following areas: experience-sharing on intellectual property rights, digital trade, competition policy and exchange concepts, policies and share progress on the institutional capacity and the implementation of the AfCFTA.
In his remarks, Mr. MENE, noted that China and Africa shared common aspirations rooted in mutual cooperation and the need to build China-Africa comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership adhering to the principle of achieving shared growth and through discussion and collaboration.
He said “China is a strong partner to Africa and has provided Africa with significant development and investment support over the past decade”.
“China continues to invest in infrastructure and industrial projects in Africa via its belt and road initiative, and has opened up its market of 1.4 billion consumers to African producers”.
He also said “Indeed the AfCFTA will produce new trading and investment opportunities for China in various economic sectors, including agro-processing, automobiles, and financial technology”.
He said that the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding would chart the course of a stronger, closer and more long-standing relationship between the AfCFTA Secretariat and the Ministry of Commerce of China.
In support of the collaboration between the AfCFTA and the Ministry of Commerce of China, we are strong advocates of trade and financial integration among African nations.
Trade and financial are both about countries exporting to and importing from each other. These two are often referred to as economic integration.
It is believed that opening national borders to trade has a number of potential benefits which can promote development. For example, it creates comparative advantage, access to external finance and risk sharing opportunities amongst nations. It also encourages and enables technology transfer. Local companies working with larger foreign or domestic corporations can acquire superior knowledge and skills and transfer same to the rest of the local economy.
One of the areas to be studied properly is the area of the danger of excessive openness of local firms to competition with better established foreign companies. However, it is the responsibility of various national or regional policy makers to know whether there is an ideal level of trade and financial integration that will change economies in the desired ways.
We do hope that Africa will benefit from the impending collaboration with China.
Stay with us for more.
