The South African government and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) Secretariat will host the 13th AfCFTA Council of Ministers meeting in Durban next week.
The opening ceremony of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers (COM) Responsible for Trade Meeting will take place on Tuesday, followed by South Africa’s launch to commence Preferential trade under the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative (GTI).
Participants will include secretary-general of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition of South Africa, Ebrahim Patel, as well as ministers responsible for trade, the diplomatic corps, heads of businesses and media from across the continent.
The launch ceremony will be a historic step and an instrumental tool in generating meaningful trade on the African continent through the shipment of South African products to AfCFTA states participating in the GTI such as Ghana, Egypt, Rwanda and Tunisia.
With a GDP of approximately $406 billion (World Bank, 2022), South Africa represents one of the largest economies in Africa and is poised to have a major impact on the continent’s trade due to its well-established industries and experience in exports when trading under the agreement commences.
The objectives of the meetings are to showcase South Africa’s trade under AfCFTA and how African businesses can take advantage of the liberalised trade preferences, demonstrating the processes involved, while highlighting how governments of member states and the secretariat are ready to support the private sector.
The main message of the event is to illustrate that companies can trade under AfCFTA to expand their markets within a legally binding framework.
