Zlecaf: the African Continental Free Trade Area enters into force on January 1, 2021
On March 21, 2018, 44 African Union countries gathered in Rwanda had signed the agreement creating the Zlecaf.
© STR / AFP
Text by: Olivier Rogez Follow |
Marine Jeannin Follow
5 mins
The African continental free trade area, the Zlecaf, officially enters into force on January 1, 2021. Ratified so far by 34 countries, the treaty is supposed to establish the largest free trade area in the world, with 1.2 billion people potentially affected.
The idea is to increase intra-African trade and develop wealth there.
The Zlecaf provides for the elimination of 90% of customs taxes on goods and services within 15 years at most.
And, until then, there is still a long way to go.
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It is a symbolic date and one that will remain engraved in the history of African integration.
This January 1, 2021, the 34 countries that have already ratified the treaty establishing the free trade area (
Zlecaf
), begin to trade under new rules.
In practice, nothing changes immediately.
Because the Zlecaf is under construction, and many points remain to be negotiated.
But we at least know the horizon: within 15 years at most, countries must have abolished between 85 and 90% of customs tariffs on the goods and services they exchange.
African trade remains oriented outside the continent
In the meantime, it will be necessary to have determined what are called the tariff offers, that is to say the schedules of reductions in customs duties and the categories of products concerned.
It will also be necessary to have fixed the rule of origin, ie the level of the African share contained in a manufactured product.
For now, African trade is turned outward.
Trade between African nations only represents 16% of their total.
In Europe and Asia, the rate is well over 60%.
The objective of the African Union is therefore to advance these exchanges to create more wealth.
The goal is also to convince manufacturers from all over the world to come and produce in Africa, in an integrated and open market of one billion two hundred million consumers.
The infrastructure deficit remains an essential element for the achievement of this continental objective.
Charles Fé Doukouré, Ivorian economist
Accra, a strategic location for Zlecaf
It is in Accra that everything will be played out for the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The premises of the Permanent Secretariat of the organization were inaugurated last August in the Ghanaian capital, recalls our correspondent in Ghana, Marine Jeannin.
Dr Francis Mangeni, head of commercial promotions at the Zlecaf Secretariat, discusses the reasons for this choice.
“
There was a competition, which Ghana won.
First, they offered to provide fully furnished premises for the
Zlecaf
Secretariat
.
They have also invested a lot: 10 million dollars, to support the work of the Secretariat.
"
The role of the Permanent Secretariat will be crucial for the launch of the Zlecaf: it is he who is responsible for the implementation of the free trade area.
“
The Secretariat is the technical arm of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Its main function is to support all procedures of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The Secretariat therefore has a fundamental role to play in ensuring the proper implementation of the agreement, and in ensuring that the
Zlecaf
functions well as a regional continental market.
"
As a reminder, 34 African countries have ratified the Zlecaf since the inaugural Kigali agreement in March 2018.
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