Addis Ababa, 1 March 2021, ECA –The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said it would continue to contribute to the review and finalization of Kenya’s strategy for implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
ECA’s Director for the Regional Integration and Trade Division, Stephen Karingi, gave the assurance on 1 March during the opening of a retreat to review the East African country’s AfCFTA implementation strategy in Naivasha. The retreat will run until 5 March as experts from the Government of Kenya, private sector and technical partners review and finalize the strategy.
Mr. Karingi said the national strategy provided guidance on how Kenya could use the AfCFTA for the benefit of businesses and the people, adding that the retreat, being attended by government officials, private sector operators, the academia, women and youth organizations, was a response by the government to getting the best possible outcome from the agreement.
Also speaking at the event, Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development, David Osiany, expressed appreciation to the ECA and other partners for supporting Kenya's integration effort in the continent.
“The AfCFTA from a Kenyan perspective is what will set African nations on a recovery path beyond Covid-19,” said Mr. Osiany, who also made a case for making the strategy “COVID sensitive”.
Kenya is one of the 36 countries that have ratified the AfCFTA agreement, which provides an opportunity for Africa to create the world's largest free trade area with the potential to unite more than 1.2 billion people in a $2.5 trillion economic bloc and usher in a new era of development.
It has the potential to generate a range of benefits through supporting trade creation, structural transformation, productive employment and poverty reduction. It will also constitute a significant milestone towards the realization of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 for the socio-economic transformation of the continent.
The ECA has been working with the African Union Commission (AUC) and member states of the AU to deepen Africa's trade integration and effectively implement the agreement through policy advocacy and national strategy development. The ECA, through its African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC), works with the International Trade Centre (ITC), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and independent trade experts with the financial support of the European Union (EU) to assist with the implementation of the agreement.
Issued by:
Communications Section,
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
Email: eca-info@un.org