The Minister of Finance and Public Enterprise, Iipumbu Shiimi, says the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a high-ambition trade agreement with a comprehensive scope that includes critical areas such as digital trade and investment protection.

Shiimi said this during the 30th World Customs Organisation East and Southern Africa Governing Meeting held at Swakopmund.

The AfCFTA is the world's largest free trade area, bringing together 55 countries of the African Union (AU) and eight Regional Economic Communities to create a single market for the continent.

The aim is to enable the free flow of goods and services across the continent and boost the trading position of Africa in the global market.

Shiimi says that no development will take place if Africans are unable to trade amongst themselves.

He adds that customs administrators are the enablers of that development. 

By eliminating barriers to trade in Africa, the objective of the AfCFTA is to significantly boost intra-African trade, particularly trade in value-added and trade across all sectors of its economies.

The practical implementation of the AfCFTA has the potential to foster industrialization, job creation, and investment, thus enhancing the competitiveness of Africa in the medium to long term.

The AfCFTA came into force in 2019, after 24 Member States deposited their Instruments of Ratification following a series of continuous continental engagements spanning since 2012.

It was launched at the 12th Extraordinary Session of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Niamey, Niger, in July 2019. The commencement of trading under the AfCFTA was on January 20, 2021.