South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed Africa’s potential economic development, saying that the continent was the world’s next growth frontier due to its abundant natural resources – including labour.
“Africa is on the cusp of a new era. As we launch the implementation phase of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), we are closer to our ambition of creating a free trade area stretching from Cape to Cairo,” he said on Thursday in Japan.
Addressing the South Africa-Japan Business Forum in Yokohama, Japan, Ramaphosa said the recently formed African Continental Free Trade Area would create one of the largest free trade blocs in the world, with a rapidly growing population of 1.3 billion people.
“Taken as a whole, Africa is already the world’s eighth largest economy and is set to expand rapidly over the coming decades,” he said at the engagement held at automotive group Nissan global headquarters.
The president’s engagement formed as part of his working visit to Japan, where he arrived on Tuesday to participate in the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).
NM/jn/APA