Business
AfCFTA’s promising future: Boosting African trade amidst obstacles
By Chinedu Okafor
African trade experts have highlighted a number of obstacles preventing the intra-African market from maximizing its potential, including cumbersome border inspections, harassment, solicitation from security officers, bribes from traders, and poor roads.
This information was revealed in the most recent issue of Pathway Africa, which our correspondent acquired from the Ministry of Aviation.
“Only a few hundred kilometers separate Lagos, Nigeria, from Accra in Ghana but for the thousands of traders who ply this route, the journey through these routes can take a full day. Customs officials and police at roadblocks will make you unload and unpack every little package in order to delay you for hours,” Lucia Quachey, the secretary-general of the African Federation of Women Entrepreneurs, stated.
She also pushed for the construction of infrastructure to facilitate commerce and for the removal of several tariffs and non-tariff obstacles.
The AfCFTA initiative intends to make trade between Africa’s 55 countries easier by removing obstacles and boosting business.