The national forum on African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement entered its second day on Friday with Nigeria insisting on fair trade to boost intra-African trade.
The Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Chief Niyi Adebayo, said at the forum in Lagos that the trade was important to Nigeria and Africa, but fairness was key to the success of multilateral agreements.
The Forum with the theme: ‘Effective Implementation for Industrialisation and Inclusive Economic Development in Nigeria’’ was co-organised by the Nigerian Government, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and in collaboration with the European Union (EU).
Other collaborators are the African Union (AU), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA).
“Our vision for intra-African trade is that of free movement of made in Africa goods. That is, goods and services made locally with significant African content in terms of raw materials and value addition.
“Nigeria’s vision for the AfCFTA is, therefore, free and fair intra-Africa trade that creates economic growth, wealth for investors and businesses, jobs and prosperity for our citizens,” he said.
He reported that from the studies done so far, Nigeria had established that the AfCFTA could facilitate economic growth and diversification, through preferential access to Africa’s market for manufactured goods and services.
He pointed out that this could only be realised through addition of new production capacity, retooling and up-scaling existing businesses and assisting those sectors that would be negatively impacted to migrate to new areas.
Adebayo also insisted on prioritising the resolution of the bottlenecks that hinder the competitiveness in production and trade.
These include hard infrastructure such as power and logistics as well as soft infrastructure such as policies, regulations.
He said that enforcement of trade rules, without compromising efforts on trade facilitation and ease of doing business, was crucial to AfCFTA.
According to him, Nigeria is determined to fully implement the terms of the AfCFTA and uphold its commitments on trade and regional integration.
“However, we will not allow smuggling and other predatory trade practices to continue unchecked, as it undermines our economic development efforts and destroys local industries, leading to job losses.
“We also will not allow rogue traders to manipulate the rules of origin and disguise goods from outside the continent as made in Africa so as to qualify for duty-free passage,” Adebayo said.
MM/GIK/APA