The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), in partnership with the City of Cape Town, will host a workshop on the implementation and operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA) on Friday, July 7.
The event is scheduled to take place at the Southern Sun Cape Sun Hotel as part of a nationwide series of workshops that have taken place in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga.
The workshop will apprise companies and export-ready small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of the benefits of trading under the AfCFTA and foster partnerships and collaboration with the private sector, women-owned businesses and youth-owned, export-ready enterprises. Representatives from the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Western Cape Tourism and the Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Wesgro) will be present at the workshop.
The AfCFTA seeks to establish a large single continental market, encompassing a population of approximately 1.3 billion people and a combined Gross Domestic Product of $3.4 trillion.
Chief director of Africa Multilateral Economic Relations at the dtic, Sandile Tyini, said the workshop sought to engage with the private sector, SMEs and other export-ready businesses on the status of AfCFTA’s implementation, including opportunities for companies to participate in preferential trade beyond the southern African region.
“The workshop will focus on six sector master plans, namely steel and metal fabrication, agriculture and agro-processing, the retail clothing, textiles, footwear and leather (R-CTFL) value chain, automotive industry, sugar value chain and forestry," Tyini said.
The event will also identify companies in the targeted sector master plans and other priority sectors that wish to export to the rest of the continent.
"In addition, the workshop will expose export-ready companies to the benefits of exporting under the AfCFTA,” Tyini said.
AfCFTA also includes mechanisms to support emerging producers, SMEs and women and youth entrepreneurs to participate and benefit from its opportunities. – SAnews.gov.za
