AfricaPress-Tanzania: AHEAD of the opening of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in July 1, 2020, Tanzanian traders have been urged to come up with strategies that will enable them to secure competitive positions in the market.
The Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) President Mr Paul Koyi said Thursday in Rukwa that AfCFTA will provide market to Tanzanian products and that traders should get ready to absorb the opportunity.
The TCCIA boss was speaking to the chamber’s members on various issues related to trade and investment opportunities.
He said Tanzania is among the African Union (AU) member countries that have deposited their instruments of ratification towards the creation of a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business persons and investments, among other main objectives.
The AfCFTA is also expected to enhance competitiveness at the industry and enterprise level through exploitation of opportunities for scale production, continental market access and better reallocation of resources.
To achieve this, Mr Koyi said TCCIA in collaboration with the government authorities and development partners were contemplating to consult business persons across the country through trade and investment forums with a view to building their capacities.
The 18th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union that was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2012 adopted a decision to establish a Continental Free Trade Area by an indicative date of 2017.
This deadline was, however, not met. In total, 44 out of the 55 AU member states including Tanzania signed the consolidated text of the AfCFTA Agreement, 47 signed the Kigali Declaration and 30 signed the Protocol on Free Movement.
According to sources, the AfCFTA will be governed by five operational instruments; the Rules of Origin; the online negotiating forum; the monitoring and elimination of non-tariff barriers; a digital payments system and the African Trade Observatory.
Estimates from the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) suggest that the AfCFTA has the potential both to boost intra-African trade by 52.3 percent by eliminating import duties, and to double this trade if non-tariff barriers are also reduced.
