The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and TradeMark EastAfrica (TMEA) have signed an agreement aimed at collaborating to boost trade in Africa.
The AfCFTA Secretariat and TMEA are now united in their shared goal of increasing prosperity in the continent through the liberalisation of trade.
The MoU was signed in Lome, Togo, by Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA, and Frank Matsaert, Chief Executive Officer at TMEA.
The MoU represents the next logical step for the two organisations as they work to reduce barriers to trade across Africa by supporting engagement with the continent’s private sector on trade and economic development issues.
These include digitising key trade processes at a national level followed by linking these at a regional level and supporting policies to promote e-commerce across the Continent.
Also in the agreement is developing regional value chains and investment; and developing Africa’s cross-border trade with a focus on women traders, youth and MSMEs.
The agreement will allow the two organisations to share costs and support each other in logistical challenges as they seek to implement programmes to develop trade in across Africa.
“The MoU will further allow TMEA to carry out the necessary reforms needed to fully implement AfCFTA’s trade agreement, unlocking the Continent’s trade potential and increasing market competition. This will, in turn, translate into much needed jobs within the target sectors,” said Mene.
“We thank the AfCFTA Secretariat for the strong partnership forged and we look forward to jointly generating impact for trade and prosperity across the Continent for millions of Africans,” said Matsaert.
