AFRICA
Signing On
Most members of the African Union signed an important free trade pact, taking a big step toward integrating the continent’s economy.
Some 44 out of 55 members of the international political body joined the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) in Kigali, Rwanda, on Wednesday in what they hailed as the largest such deal since they agreed to join the World Trade Organization more than two decades ago, Stratfor reported.
Designed to set up a rules-based trading system for the continent, the pact aims to remove tariffs on 90 percent of goods while slowly phasing out tariffs on the remaining 10 percent. It needs to be ratified by at least 22 countries before it can be implemented, after which representatives will begin work on expanding it to cover issues such as intellectual property, the think tank said, noting that the fragmentation of Africa’s combined $2 trillion economy has slowed development.
Notably, the continent’s two largest economic players, Nigeria and South Africa, declined to sign the pact.
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