Permalink Submitted by Bashar H. Malkawi on 04 April 2020
Organization/ affiliation:
University of Sharjah
The signing of the Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by 44 African countries in Kigali, on March 21, 2018 inrush the enters the third step of the implementation of AEC and attests of a strong desire to deepen regional integration in Africa. As mentioned in article 3 of the AfCFTA agreement, the key objective of the AfCFTA is to boost intra-African trade. However, to achieve this goal, many challenges need to be addressed and in particular the setting up of a single continental legal trade regime. This includes the harmonization of trade procedures.
Among the factors holding back intra-African trade is document requirements, cumbersome border-crossing procedures and delays. For instance, an average ten days is needed to clear direct exports through customs in Sub-Saharan Africa and on average eight documents to import. The number of documents required importing goods and border compliance negatively affects trade volume in Africa. There is a need of harmonization of trade procedures. Bashar H. Malkawi
The signing of the Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by 44 African countries in Kigali, on March 21, 2018 inrush the enters the third step of the implementation of AEC and attests of a strong desire to deepen regional integration in Africa. As mentioned in article 3 of the AfCFTA agreement, the key objective of the AfCFTA is to boost intra-African trade. However, to achieve this goal, many challenges need to be addressed and in particular the setting up of a single continental legal trade regime. This includes the harmonization of trade procedures.
Among the factors holding back intra-African trade is document requirements, cumbersome border-crossing procedures and delays. For instance, an average ten days is needed to clear direct exports through customs in Sub-Saharan Africa and on average eight documents to import. The number of documents required importing goods and border compliance negatively affects trade volume in Africa. There is a need of harmonization of trade procedures. Bashar H. Malkawi