The chairperson of the African Union (AU) and President of Rwanda Paul Kagame delivers remarks at the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Business Forum in Kigali, capital of Rwanda, on March 20, 2018. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Business Forum, a side event of the African Union (AU) extraordinary summit on the AfCFTA, took place on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Gabriel Dusabe)
KIGALI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The private sector of Africa wants a single market for trade, said a top African entrepreneur on Tuesday in Rwanda's capital city Kigali.
Africa has a GDP of nearly 3 trillion dollars and has a population of 1.2 billion, but when you are trying to trade, you will not see the opportunity of that market size as the market is divided by countries, said Strive Masiyiwa, founder and Executive Chairman of Econet, a global telecommunications group with operations and investments in over 20 countries.
Giving private sector tools to expand across the markets and to move people working with businesses will ease difficulty of doing business in Africa, and is central to job creation for young people, one of the greatest challenges in Africa, he said at a plenary of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Business Forum, a side event of the African Union (AU) extraordinary summit on the AfCFTA.
African leaders are expected to sign an agreement that will launch the AfCFTA at the summit on Wednesday.
The AfCFTA will make Africa the largest free trade area created in terms of numbers of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization, according to the AU.
The AfCFTA will progressively eliminate tariffs on intra-African trade, making it easier for African businesses to trade within the continent and cater to and benefit from the growing African market, said the AU.
The UN Economic Commission for Africa estimates that the AfCFTA has the potential both to boost intra-African trade by 53.2 percent by eliminating import duties, and to double this trade if non-tariff barriers are also reduced.
