Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, has called on Africans to take advantage of the opportunities in digital trade.
“Africa is one of the fastest-growing penetrations of mobile subscribers in the world,” he told Africa Renewal, a magazine published by the United Nations.
“Digital trade is possible through mobile phones. We know, from the experiences of various countries across Africa, that you can access distant markets using your mobile phone. It is a question of leveraging all those technological innovations and advantages into a common platform for free trade in Africa under the AfCFTA agreement.”
He points out that at times trucks have to wait for weeks to go through customs while trading between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire at the Elubo/Noe border crossings.
The lengthy border delays are also a feature of SADC borders – an issue which has been well documented in this portal.
“We need to find a way to digitise our customs capabilities to make them seamless across the continent. It is going to take quite a lot of work, but I believe it’s possible,” he said.
While Covid-19 has scuppered plans for the July 1 launch date of the agreement, Mene said African leaders would soon announce a new date.