Mobilize African citizens for a successful continental free trade area, says Kaberuka

The people of Africa need to be mobilized for the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the ongoing African Union (AU) reforms, former African Development Bank AfDB) President, Donald Kaberuka, said Monday. Speaking during a high-level roundtable, which discussed issues around fiscal space and financial sustainability in the context of the AfCFTA, Mr. Kaberuka said the continental free trade area and AU reforms were both critical for Africa’s future, adding, nothing should be taken for granted. The discussion followed the official opening of the ministerial segment of the 51st Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and another high level roundtable that covered a variety of topics related to the implementation of the AfCFTA, in particular reforms needed for member countries to fully benefit from the agreement. Mr. Kaberuka said the AfCFTA was much more than a tariff elimination exercise, adding it should be “a quantum jump in how our continent repositions in the context of a weak multilateral system and a time of a potential demographic cliff for us, for a lack of a better word”. Forty-four African countries signed the AfCFTA in Rwanda in March, an agreement establishing a free trade area seen as vital to the continent's economic development. At least 22 member countries should ratify the agreement before it goes into force.