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Monday, January 14,
2019 / 4:20 PM / Nifemi Taiyese for WebTV / Header Image Credit: WebTV
The Africa Continental
Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), if well implemented, has the potential of
Industrializing the continent.
Mr. Kunle Elebute, Senior Partner KPMG Nigeria and
Chairman of KPMG Africa, made the statement at the closing ceremony of the 5th
Africa Academy of Management Conference in Lagos.
Speaking on the topic "The Africa Continental Free
Trade Agreement," Elebute believed the Trade Agreement provided an opportunity
for Africa to compete at the global level as a critical market with over 1.2bn
consumers.
He described the AFCFTA as a platform for removing the
trade barriers and tariff structures that inhibit the growth of Intra-African
trade.
The KPMG Africa Chairman listed the following as
features of the AFCFTA;
He noted that the AfCFTA treaty negotiations
started in 2013, noting that it took three years to agree and another three
years for most countries to sign.
On the impact of the continental free trade agreement,
Elebute listed the following areas of advantage;
Elebute informed the delegates that the AfCFTA would
leverage on the sub-regional economic clusters in Africa such as the South
Africa Development Community (SADEC), East African Community (EAC), and
Economic Community for West African States, ECOWAS to deepen trade and growth
in Africa.
For the benefits he highlighted the following as the
key areas of value that Africa should derive from the AfCFTA, which include;
"AfCFTA will benefit prepared countries,
countries that are unprepared should do what is right and get prepared, one of
the key things they may have to do is ensure they make changes to their
internal regulatory framework to align with AfCFTA principles," Elebute said.
He encouraged businesses to take advantage of this
opportunity that provides a bigger market with new opportunities, partnerships
and distribution networks.
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