President Paul Kagame has expressed his concerns about the slow pace of implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), warning that the continent is falling short of turning the framework into a driver of economic integration.
Kagame made the remarks on Monday, August 24, during a press conference, saying his frustration was not about the creation of AfCFTA but about how slowly countries are moving to implement it.
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"I am concerned, but I am also happy that this effort was ever put in place. The frustration is just about how fast and how well we can move forward,” Kagame said.
He said Africa had made an important step by establishing the framework for countries to trade more freely with one another. The AfCFTA agreement was officially adopted and signed by 44 nations during the 10th Extraordinary African Union Summit held in Kigali on March 2018.
"It was a good beginning of a hard task that we had to carry out. But doing it brings a lot more than creating a concept around it, and that is where we have fallen short as a continent. We are not moving at the right pace,” Kagame said.
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Kagame said the slow progress should prompt African countries to examine why implementation has not matched the ambitions that led to the creation of AfCFTA.
"We need to look back and ask why we created it in the first place. If we fully understand the benefits, how can we falter along the way in doing what we are supposed to do?” he said.
He said countries should identify the reasons some members have not fully contributed to the implementation process and work together to address the challenges holding them back.
"It requires us to continue nurturing each other and find out the reasons some people have for not fully contributing and working as they should. That can cause frustration,” Kagame said.
The AfCFTA is intended to create a single continental market for goods and services and progressively remove tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade.
"I am happy that the step towards free trade was put in place to unite Africa and bring us together, creating a framework through which we can realise broader trade and trade with each other guided by AfCFTA,” he said.
However, its implementation has faced challenges including non-tariff barriers, differences in national regulations, infrastructure constraints and limited productive capacity in some countries.
"Africans should be frustrated, maybe those who really put a lot of weight on all these efforts, but we cannot always just complain. We have to come together and do what we should do, because it is not as easy as just saying it,” he said.
The AfCFTA entered into force in 2019, with trading under the agreement beginning in January 2021. It is intended to increase intra-African trade, expand markets for African businesses and reduce the continent's dependence on external markets.