The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is in full swing. Implementation of the agreement offers South African business people unlimited opportunities to grow their businesses and expand their markets into the rest of Africa. South Africa’s centres of commerce such as Cape Town, Johannesburg and eThekwini (Durban) need to learn the new ropes concerning business opportunities fast. This is according to the Director of Africa Bilateral Economic Relations at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) Calvin Phume. Mr Phume was addressing a workshop that was hosted by the DTIC in partnership with the Mpumalanga Department of Economic Development and Tourism and Gert Sibande District Municipality in Ermelo, Mpumalanga, recently.
The purpose of the workshop was to equip the Mpumalanga businesspeople with information that will enable them to take advantage of opportunities presented by the AfCFTA in order to enter the African export market and expand their businesses into the continent. “The African Continental Free Trade Agreement has created a single market comprising more than 1.3 billion people that businesspeople across the continent can take advantage of. “This will provide South African companies with new market access opportunities to key markets in the African continent beyond the Southern Africa Development Community,” he said. Phume said the main objective of the agreement was to eliminate all barriers to trade in Africa to enable the free flow of goods and services across the continent.
“This is meant to allow businesspeople like yourselves to contribute in increasing intra-African trade and investment. Through the Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, African leaders have set themselves an ambition of increasing intra-Africa trade from the current 17% to 81% by 2035,” Phume said.
The country’s business class has been given an opportunity to improve and expand their business opportunities beyond the traditional scope of SADC. This is thanks to the enhanced infrastructure of new railways and roads the ground work of which was laid by AfCFTA. Inter-Africa trade, integration and investment has now been made possible through the creation of the single market. However South African business persons will have to focus on learning about the dynamics of various business practices, cultural norms, economics and interests across the continent. Business forums like the one in Gert Sibande District Municipality in Ermelo, Mpumalanga are meant to educate and inform our South African based businesses of the opportunities that have been made available. AfCFTA for its path is about building new connections.
These new connections are created through the free movement of services, goods and peoples. The railways, roads and waterways that have been constructed to improve trade will lead to an increase in industrialization and job opportunities. A new path is being chartered to lift Africa out of poverty and South Africa is at the heart of it.
Article written by:
Yacoob Cassim
Journalist at Radio Al Ansaar
