This archive report was first published on 8 July 2019.
On July 7, 2019, the African Union (AU) officially launched the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) at a summit in Niamey, Niger's capital. This ambitious project aims to create the world's largest free trade zone, connecting 1.2 billion people and cutting trade tariffs and barriers.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed hailed the AfCFTA as a crucial step towards building bridges for peace in Africa. She emphasized the need to provide opportunities for young people, who are often the most affected by poverty and lack of skills.
"We have to find an alternative for the huge cohort of young people that we have the most of, who are the poor, the low-skilled. We owe them that," Mohammed said.
The AfCFTA agreement, which was sealed after 17 years of negotiations, aims to reduce tariffs on 90% of goods and services, boosting intra-African trade by 60% by 2022. Currently, African countries trade only about 16% of their goods and services among each other, compared to 65% with European countries.
State trade ministers have agreed that the zone should be operational from July 2020. The AU estimates that the AfCFTA will give a significant boost to African economies, creating new opportunities for businesses and investors.
At the summit, host Niger and its fellow members in the G5-Sahel security pact sought support for activating Chapter VII of the UN Charter to address rising threats from terror groups. Mohammed emphasized the need to end insecurity and invest in opportunities for young people to prevent them from being lured by emerging terror groups.
"Terrorism is about exclusion, it is about root causes where you have young people who have no hope, where government structures are not working, where economies are not carrying people with them," Mohammed said.
