African heads of state are billed to meet to consider
The Secretary-General of AfCTA Secretariat, Mr. Wamkele Mene, spoke during a webinar on the "Political Economy of COVID-19: Implications for AfCFTA", which was organised by the
The new timeline followed an assessment of the damage already caused by the COVID-19 pandemic globally and
Also, speaking during another webinar on "Multi-stakeholder and expert dialogue on the impact of COVID-19 on Trade", which was put together by the acting Chief Trade Negotiator/Director General,
He said though COVID-19 had delayed the implementation of the trade agreement,
"I really hope that when
"Looking at the (COVID-19) destruction in
He also told participants that the Assembly of Heads of States had established a COVID-19 solidarity fund currently valued at about
He said despite the closure of borders, the heads of state had agreed that there should be a trade corridor for transiting essential goods that have been identified by the
He listed the essential products to include germ killers namely soaps, ventilators and personal protection equipment which "can still transit and can still reach populations across
He added that the trade corridor represented one of the tools which the heads of state are employing to combat COVID-19.
The AfCTA SG added that the
According to him, one of the items on the ministers' agenda is to work out a possible moratorium on duties for essential products and goods "when they cross the border so that the items will become more affordable for consumers across the continent."
The SG, however, noted that the strains brought by the COVID-19 pandemic on the economic and public health systems had called the July implementation date for AfCTA to question.
He said:"When you look at all these things it becomes very clear that our objective for an integrated market and the objective of moving swiftly to the implementation of the AfCTA- that all of the works that we have been doing is now being put to question by COVID-19."
The AfCTA, endorsed by 55 countries, is expected to create a
Earlier in March, Liman was asked how prepared
He said: "No country can be totally prepared. "However, we cannot stop engaging with the AfCTA process because it's important that
"But having said that, on competitiveness, there's still more to be done. On infrastructure, we still need to do more and on the economy, we still need to do more. We still need to do more on security; but I think the current president is actually trying with respect to security.
"As you also know, we've moved 10 places forward in the areas of ease of doing business and so we are getting prepared somehow but you know a country can never be fully ready to go into a free trade arrangement but I hope that over time,we will be able to prepare ourselves and take advantage of the opportunities that the AfCTA represents for us. This is key to the prosperity not just of
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