{"id":15473,"date":"2022-11-04T12:24:51","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T12:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/tap-into-afcfta-2"},"modified":"2022-11-04T13:31:19","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T13:31:19","slug":"tap-into-afcfta-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/tap-into-afcfta-2","title":{"rendered":"\u2018TAP INTO AFCFTA\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. <\/strong><\/span>Ministry of Commerce Industry and Trade acting Principal Secretary (PS) Cebile Nhlabatsi has called upon the private sector to collaborate with government and prioritise private public partnerships in order to increase the country\u2019s capacity in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).<\/b><\/p>\n

Nhlabatsi said this during the National AfCFTA National Consultative Forum for the kingdom of Eswatini that was held at the Mountain View hotel yesterday.<\/p>\n

She said the role of the private sector was very critical for changing the landscape of the African continent.<\/p>\n

She stated that Africa was seeking to find collectively, practical ways of unleashing the embedded potential of the continent and its people so that we can together build an Integrated and peaceful continent, driven by its own people, representing a dynamic force in the international arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to achieve this it was clear that that going forward, Africa cannot be the raw material producing and exporting economy of the past and the continent had to be an economy based on value-addition and industrial activities, as well as trade with the role of the private sector is very critical for changing the landscape of the African continent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Nhlabatsi explained that AfCFTA would bring together an extended market comprising the 55 Members of the African Union (AU) with a combined population of more than 1.3 billion people and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US $ 3. 4 Trillion.<\/p>\n

\u201cEight African countries have commenced trading under the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative, which is an initiative that seeks to test the operational, institutional, legal and trade policy environment under the AfCFTA, and to send an important positive message to African economic managers. May I congratulate Egypt, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Rwanda, Tanzania and Tunisia for this milestone,\u201d said Nhlabatsi.<\/p>\n

She stated that the AfCFTA negotiations were launched, following a decision that was taken by the African Union Summit in January 2012 to establish a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by an indicative date of 2017. \u201cThe AfCFTA Agreement for both trade in goods and trade in services was eventually signed by Heads of State and Government in March 2018, in Kigali, Rwanda and the start of trading was launched in January 2021,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She further assured that the kingdom was committed to the implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement and to take full advantage of the opportunities provided for under both trade in goods and trade in services.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is for this reason that we are gathered here today to come up with ideas, strategies and plans on how the AfCFTA Agreement can be of benefit to the nation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

UN Resident Coordinator George Wachira said the forum was part of the process of preparing a national strategy for the kingdom on the AfCFTA, as some other African countries are currently doing as well.<\/p>\n

\u2018The essence is for Eswatini to position itself effectively in benefitting from the AfCFTA, which is obviously a moving train, which all countries on the continent, sooner than later, will sign onto,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wachira said the AfCFTA offered clear opportunities for Eswatini to anchor its industrialisation strategy on the market opportunities offered by this agreement as Eswatini had a population of about 1.2 million people and a GDP of USD 4.9 billion. \u201cThe AfCFTA is used strategically will assist Eswatini in addressing the challenge of youth unemployment and in the process create gainful and decent job opportunities for the peoples of Eswatini,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that the agreement also had immense opportunities for increasing intra-regional trade, enhancing production, promoting economies of scale, creating jobs, raising incomes and improving the standard of living of the African people.<\/p>\n

He added that the AfCFTA Agreement was not self-executing as it required Eswatini to deploy deliberate strategies towards ensuring that the private sector, as key stakeholder in production and trade, was primed to exploit a larger market and product opportunities offered by the AfCFTA, with reduced tariff and non-tariff barriers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is imperative to, among others, address supply-side constraints limiting the productive capacity of industry to stimulate competitiveness. Coherence between the National Industry Policy and trade promotion initiatives is critical,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Wachira said the effective exploitation of the AfCFTA would require consensus among all stakeholders which included the private sector, government, academics, civil society, women and youth organisations.<\/p>\n

\u201cHence the imperative to establish a well-resourced National AfCFTA committee as part of the framework to entrench and facilitate the required consultative processes in the implementation of the agreement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eswatini<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. Ministry of Commerce Industry and Trade acting Principal Secretary (PS) Cebile Nhlabatsi has called upon the private sector to collaborate with government and prioritise private public partnerships in order to increase the country\u2019s capacity in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Nhlabatsi said this during the National AfCFTA National Consultative Forum […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":15472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234,248,249],"class_list":["post-15473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eswatini","tag-eswatini"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018TAP INTO AFCFTA\u2019 - Eswatini<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ministry of Commerce Industry and Trade acting Principal Secretary (PS) Cebile Nhlabatsi has called upon the private ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/tap-into-afcfta-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018TAP INTO AFCFTA\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ministry of Commerce Industry and Trade acting Principal Secretary (PS) Cebile Nhlabatsi has called upon the private ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/tap-into-afcfta-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eswatini\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-04T12:24:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-04T13:31:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_4-63651406b9bb6.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"567\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/tap-into-afcfta-2#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/tap-into-afcfta-2\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018TAP INTO AFCFTA\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-04T12:24:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-04T13:31:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/tap-into-afcfta-2\"},\"wordCount\":754,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/tap-into-afcfta-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_4-63651406b9bb6.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eswatini\",\"Eswatini\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/tap-into-afcfta-2#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/tap-into-afcfta-2\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/tap-into-afcfta-2\",\"name\":\"\u2018TAP INTO AFCFTA\u2019 - 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