This African Continental Free Trade Area should not just be a trade Agreement, it should actually be an instrument for Africa’s development. In this regard, we have seen the World Bank produce a report that projects that by the year 2035 if we implement this Agreement effectively, we have the opportunity to lift out of poverty one hundred million Africans. And the majority of these hundred million Africans that will be lifted out of poverty, are women in trade. It will be the opportunity to close the gender income gap, and the opportunity for SMEs to access new markets.

We are working very closely with our technical partners to develop digital technology platforms that will enable connectivity of Small to Medium Enterprises, and enable connectivity of young Africans in trade.

This Agreement does not benefit only the big corporations on the African continent, but it should always be inclusive of young Africans, women, and African SMEs.

We have partnered and worked very hard the past years with UNECA, with AfreximBank, with Afrochampions, with UNCTAD, and recently with UNDP.

Today, as Africans, we are witnessing the beginning of a new chapter in terms of trade and investment relations of the African continent.

I have to say, personally, as an African, I’m truly proud today because 54 countries have signed this Agreement, 33 have ratified it, over 40 have submitted their tariff offers. This is a strong signal that Africa is ready to start trading today on the basis of new rules and preferences that will ensure that the African Market is integrated.

We have to take, as Africans, active steps to overcome the smallness of our respective national economies. We have to take active steps to overcome the lack of economies of scale. We have to take active steps to make sure that we place Africa on the path of industrial development so that by the year 2035, we’re able to double intra-Africa trade with value-added goods.

As I observed before in the past, we have to take active steps to dismantle the colonial economic model that we inherited and that has been sustained over the last 60 years. We have to stop being exporters of primary products to countries of the North. We have to create jobs on the African continent by developing our regional value chains and be self-sufficient in our own continental production.

In 2020, Covid-19 has demonstrated, that Africa is overly reliant on global supply chains, and when these global chains are disrupted, Africa suffers. When these global chains are subdued, we know that Africa suffers.

So we have to take active steps to make sure this industrial development is accelerated and this African Continental Free Trade Area and the Launch of Trading today are the first steps we take in that direction.

Today we will be hearing from our Heads of State, we will hear from the Chair of the Heads Of State Assembly, HE President Ramaphosa. We will hear from HE President Mahamadou Issoufou, Champion of the AfCFTA. We will hear from HE President Akufo Addo, the host of the AfCFTA Secretariat in Ghana. Finally, we will hear from the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, HE Moussa Faki Mahamat.

We have also invited our strategic partners, AfreximBank, UNECA, the AfroChampions, and others. They will all share their thoughts on what this day means for them.

Finally, I want you, Africans, to join me as we take this historic step to the vision of an integrated Africa, the Africa we want.

I thank you

Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is an honor for me to make this statement to this august Assembly, from Accra, Ghana, the philosophical and intellectual foundation of Pan-Africanism. In August 2020, the Government of Ghana officially handed over the AfCFTA Secretariat building to H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat. In my personal interactions with H.E. President Akufo-Addo, it is clear that his commitment to the AfCFTA is anchored on a deep sense of duty to advancing the imperatives of Pan-Africanism. I deeply appreciate the support of H.E. President Akufo-Addo and the entire government of the Republic of Ghana.

Your Excellences,

Africa is on the cusp of a historic milestone that started when the AfCFTA was signed in Kigali, Rwanda in March 2018. As of today, 54 countries have signed the agreement, 34 countries have deposited their instruments of ratification, with the Federal Republic of Nigeria depositing their instrument of ratification this morning. Today, 41 countries/customs unions have submitted their tariff offers, including the EAC and ECOWAS who submitted their offers in the last few days. This positions the AfCFTA for a truly commercially meaningful start of trading on 1 January 2021.

None of this remarkable progress would have been achieved without the unwavering leadership and commitment of H.E. President Mahamadou Issoufou, the Champion and Leader of the AfCFTA.

Africa has an overreliance on the export of primary commodities to traditional markets of the North. In other words, Africa continues to be trapped in a colonial economic model, which requires that we aggressively implement the AfCFTA as one of the tools for effecting a fundamental structural transformation of Africa’s economy and placing Africa on a path of long term industrial development. Now is the time to take action to dismantle this colonial economic model by accelerating our industrial development objectives.

Women in trade, young Africans and SMEs, confront significant challenges when attempting to benefit from trade agreements. For the AfCFTA to be inclusive and to ensure shared growth across the continent; women, young Africans, and SMEs have to be at the heart of its implementation. In this regard, we shall partner with the UNDP to ensure that the AfCFTA contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, Agenda 2030.

We have partnered with the Afro-Champions to deploy digitally-enabled platforms to connect SMEs, women in trade, and young entrepreneurs to new markets on the African continent. In revitalizing Africa’s economy, particularly the services sector – AVRIVA – the Africa CDC Trusted Travel Initiative is critical.

Your Excellences,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Afreximbank has been a strong strategic partner to the AfCFTA. We are working together on the development of a Pan-African Payments and Settlement Platform which this Assembly launched last year in Niamey, we are also developing an Adjustment Facility, which are both instruments that will support the implementation of the AfCFTA.

We intend to expand our partnerships with the private sector, we have had very fruitful discussions with Zenith Bank about a trade portal and Standard Bank about the establishment of a US$1 billion Trade Finance Facility, which will be aimed at SMEs primarily. We will have to explore the possibility of this Trade Finance Facility being jointly underwritten by governments, African banks, and African multilateral development institutions.

Your Excellences,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

As much progress as we have made, integrating 55 markets will be difficult, it is a daunting task, it will take resolute determination, decade after decade. However, to throw our hands in the air and say it is too difficult a task, is not an option.

A recent study by the World Bank estimates that were implemented effectively, by 2035 the AfCFTA is set to lift 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty and 70 million from moderate poverty. As promising and hopeful as this projection is, as Africans, we shall have to take our destiny into our own hands and take concrete steps to ensure that these promising projections do become a reality.

I thank you.