AfCFTA faces ‘strategic disconnect’

A trade analyst has warned that African countries could experience a strategic disconnect in establishing the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) which was officially launched on Friday. Speaking in Sandton recently, Tapiwa Samanga, who has extensive experience in the field of implementing regional industrialisation initiatives on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), recalled having had first-hand experience of talks
breaking down about customs when it came to the crunch. “When I was still with the SADC Secretariat I saw how countries across Africa are perfectly capable of talking about issues at a technical level, but as soon as it comes to strategic implementation they struggle.” It has led him to believe that the 54 African countries that have signed up for CFTA inclusion “still act as silo states”. For the moment the only remaining outsider, whose
internecine strife with Ethiopia appears to be keeping it out of the CFTA, is Eritrea. And despite last-minute efforts by the African Union to persuade the little Red Sea nation to come on board before the official launch, it has not relented. With or without Eritrea, the CFTA, if it survives its testing phase by July 2020, will represent 1.2 billion people with a combined GDP potential of $2.5 billion.