AfCFTA’s first extraordinary meeting of Council of Trade Ministers ongoing in Gabon
Africa Continental Free Trade Area’s (AfCFTA) first extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers Responsible for Trade is being held in #Libreville, #Gabon from 27 to 28 October 2022.
The objective of the Meeting is to consider the draft Protocols on Competition Policy, IPR and Investment in preparation for further consideration by the Heads of State and Government in #Niger in November while seeking political guidance from the Ministers on outstanding issues.
Wamkele Mene, S-G, AfCFTA Secretariat: “As I addressed the Ministers, I recommended that we look beyond the text and consider how we can enable #Africa, using these instruments in front of us, to respond adequately to the shifting #geopolitical landscape across the world.”
“More importantly, how do we use this, all of us, to make sure that the 1.3 Billion Africans whom we all serve, see the benefits of the #AfricanContinentalFreeTradeArea (AfCFTA). We have ahead of us a very unique opportunity to establish a legal foundation, a legal basis for a common market, for an integrated market, it should be a matter of concern for all of us that we have over 70% reliance on the imports of grains from #Russia and #Ukraine, that we are experiencing as a #continent a food insecurity crisis.”
“We must be dynamic from a trade point of view. We must negotiate, conclude and implement. And yet again, make sure that #Niamey is a success as was the case in 2019, “ Mene added.
