Zambia Joins African CFTA

President Lungu has signed Zambia up to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), witnessed by the African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry Albert Muchanga who signed on behalf of the AU.

At the signing the President noted that Zambia recognised the importance of the agreement which aims to liberalise trade of both goods and services for all African nations.

The AfCTA will now be sent for ratification through Zambia’s institutional mechanism. We are already members of the SADC and COMESA free trade areas.

However, the AfCFTA aims to create a single continental market for goods and services with the free movement of business persons and investments, thus encouraging the establishment of the Continental Customs Union and the African customs union.

Upon the signing, Zambia’s press secretary in Ethiopia noted;

“The AfCFTA will help resolve the challenges of multiple and overlapping memberships and expedite the regional and continental integration processes. It will also help to enhance competitiveness at the industry and enterprise level through exploiting opportunities for scale production, continental market access and better reallocation of resources,”