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The African Union Commission (AUC) has inaugurated the secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The secretariat – located in an ultra-modern office complex in the central business district of Accra, Ghana – was officially handed over to the commission by the Ghanaian government during a ceremony held in the Ghanaian capital on Monday.

During a summit of AU heads of state in July last year, Ghana was selected ahead of six other countries to host the AfCFTA secretariat. At the ceremony on Monday, Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo, and AUC’s Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, reiterated the importance of AfCFTA to the continent’s economic transformation, according to a statement released on Tuesday.
 
“The economic integration of Africa will lay strong foundations for an Africa beyond aid. Africa’s new sense of urgency and aspiration of true self-reliance will be amply demonstrated by today’s ceremony,” Akufo-Addo said, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted global supply chains, has reinforced the imperative for closer integration amongst African nations.

On his part, Mahamat said the opening of the secretariat marked a milestone in the vision of Africa’s founding fathers for a continental integration.

Currently, 54 countries have signed on to AfCFTA, out of which 28 have ratified the free trade deal. AfCFTA is expected to spur regional trade among member countries, increase intra-Africa trade by 52 per cent by 2022, and remove tariffs on 90 per cent of goods. Originally scheduled to take off on July 1, 2020, the commencement of AfCFTA was postponed to January 1, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also commenting on the inauguration of the secretariat was AfCFTA’s Secretary-General, Wamkele Mene, who noted that the free trade area would provide an opportunity for Africa to address its significant trade and economic development challenges. Among these challenges, he said, are market fragmentation, small national economies, over-reliance on primary commodity exports, narrow export base, lack of export specialization, under-developed regional value chains and high regulatory and tariff barriers to trade.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) provided a $5 million institutional support grant to the AU towards the establishment of the AfCFTA secretariat, according to the statement released yesterday.

“The Bank is delighted to be associated with this groundbreaking, game-changing, transformational continental initiative in furtherance of the objective to create the Africa we want,” Solomon Quaynor, the AfDB’s Vice-President for the Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, said.

The ceremony also featured virtual goodwill remarks from AU Chairman and South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, and Nigerien President, Mahamadou Issoufou.