The minister of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment, Lamin Jobe, on Tuesday 17 September disclosed that barriers to trade will continue to limit the growth of trade throughout regional groupings by imposing unnecessary cost on exporters. He added that these barriers raise prices for consumers.
Minister Jobe made these remarks at a two-day workshop on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) organised by the Ministry of Trade Industry, Regional Integration and Employment in collaboration with the Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) of UNDESA and UNDP.
“Regional trade integration has long been a strategic objective for Africa with some success in eliminating tariffs within regional communities,” he said.
Hon. Jobe further noted that a range of non-tariffs and regulatory barriers still raise transaction costs and limit the movement of goods, services, people and capital throughout Africa.
“The adoption of the agreement establishing the Africa Continental Free Trade Area is an important milestone in the history of the African continent and it is our collective desire to promote continental development throughout trade,” he said.
For her part, Aissata De, resident representative, UNDP, said that the ACFTA is expected to be key engine of economic growth, industrialisation and sustainable development in Africa in line with the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and the Africa Union (AU) Agenda 2063 for the Africa We Want.
“The Africa Continental Free Trade Area will accelerate intra-African trade and boost Africa’s trading position in the global market by strengthening Africa’s common voice and policy in global trade negotiations,” she stated.
“It will cover a single market of 1.2 billion [people and cumulative gross domestic product (GDP) of $3.4 trillion across all 55 member states of the African Union,” she said.
Also speaking at the ceremony, Edrissa Mass Jobe, the president of GCCI, said that for The Gambia, the ACFTA like the ECOWAS before; it is purely a Senegambia problem as we have only one neighbuor in Africa.
Mr. Jobe emphasised that Gambia is not a landlocked country but it’s one of the most isolated countries in the world and the elephant in the room remains their trade relationship with Senegal, through whose boundaries “we access other African countries and note that most of intra-African trade is by land not sea.”
“The Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement according to the executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, estimated that the potential for inter-regional trade will increase by up to $70 billion by 2040 solely due to the removal of tariffs,” he added.
