Zimbabwe Rebuffs Africa free trade
Zimbabwe has shelved its plans to join the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA).
The country declined to sign the agreement because it was to find space to stabilise local industries which are struggling to produce enough quality goods to compete outside.
Industry and commerce ministry’s director of international trade, Beatrice Mutetwa said while addressing parliamentarians that more time, like 15 years, would be required out of the ACFTA because the country`s local industry is not producing enough to be able to compete with other countries.
Mutetwa said Zimbabwe was in a peculiar position and needed to work towards achieving an even landscape.
Member countries are requested to open up 90 percent of their markets but Zimbabwe had only offered up 85 percent as considerations are still being made on how the key sectors like tourism and mining will be protected.
Meanwhile, Botswana and Zambia have signed the agreement of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) meant to create one African market.
The country signed the agreement at the just-ended Africa Union Summit.
Zambia also signed the AfCFTA at the same event.
Botswana and Zambia were among the countries that had not signed the AfCFTA following its establishment on 21 March 2018 in Rwanda, Kigali.
The delay was largely attributed to negotiation on some of the protocols of the AfCFTA, as the countries wanted to consult stakeholders before appending.
Briefing journalists upon his return from the just-ended AU Summit, Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi said he signed the agreement in the presence of African Union Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki, and outgoing AU chairperson, Paul Kagame.
He said the agreement would give Batswana the opportunity to “benefit from inter-regional trade within the African continent, and greatly contribute to the growth and diversification of our country’s economy.
“We have received the documents so that we can rectify the agreement,” he said.
Masisi said Botswana recognises the importance of the agreement as one that will liberalise trade of both goods and services for all African countries.
The AfCFTA aims to create a market of 1.2 billion people and a gross domestic product of US$2.5 trillion, across all AU member states.
The Continental Free Trade Agreement would provide Botswana access to the African market estimated at 1.6 billion people in 55 countries.