AfCFTA free trade pact highly promising for economic growth in Africa

The African Continental Free Trade Area that took effect on May 30 is a vital and encouraging stimulant for economic growth in Africa, according to Vera Songwe, Executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Vera Songwe gave the statement during her recent meeting with Luca Jahier, the President of the European Economic and Social Committee, the Economic Commission for Africa revealed in a statement.

As the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) took effect on May 30, African countries under the umbrella of the African Union are set to launch the operational phase of the African free trade accord in July 2019 during the African Union extraordinary summit in Niger’s capital, Niamey, as reported by Xinhua.

While being present at the meeting with EU delegation, Vera Songwe emphasized "the role of the AfCFTA as an exciting and promising stimulant for economic growth in Africa, infrastructure investments as well as in helping address the economic causes for African migration to Europe, among others," the ECA statement read.

"One of the most important impacts of AfCFTA is that it opens the door for funding Africa's infrastructural needs, whether it's railways, highways or telecommunications, or energy," the ECA chief said.

The ECA and EU officials "agreed to work together on concrete ways to amplify the role of non-state actors as implementation of the AfCFTA begins," the statement said.

The continental free trade pact has laid the foundation for what could be the world's largest free trade zone by the number of participating countries, covering more than 1.2 billion people with a combined gross domestic product of 2.5 trillion dollars, the AU cited, Xinhua reported.

Once being active, the African free trade accord is projected to boost the level of intra-Africa trade by more than 52 percent by the year 2020, according to the ECA.

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