AFRICA NEWS AGENCY
Interview Professor Daniel Mukoko Samba
«IT IS NECESSARY TO CONTINUE TO MOBILIZE ALL MEMBER STATES OF THE AFRICAN UNION President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi pledged at the 34th African Union Summit that one of his priorities as current AU Chairperson would be to accelerate the operationalization of the AfCFTA. According to which agenda and which priorities?
The AfCFTA is one of the flagship projects of the AU’s Agenda 2063 identified to accelerate Africa’s economic growth and development. Thus, President Tshisekedi’s agenda is indeed the one adopted on December 5, 2020, during the 13th Extraordinary Session of the AU Assembly dedicated to the implementation of the AfCFTA. In accordance with the schedule of activities agreed at this extraordinary summit, the DRC Presidency will focus, first and foremost, on mobilizing all states for the universal signature and ratification of the AfCFTA Agreement. The situation today indicates that out of the 55 AU countries: 36 countries have ratified the AfCFTA Agreement and deposited the instruments of ratification (are therefore States Parties); 1 country (Algeria) has already ratified, but the instruments have not been deposited; 17 countries have signed and not yet ratified the AfCFTA Agreement (including the DRC); 1 country (Eritrea) has not yet acceded to the Agreement. It is therefore necessary to continue to mobilize all African Union member states that have not done so to sign and ratify the AfCFTA Agreement.
Second, finalize the outstanding negotiations on rules of origin. Today, the coverage of agreed rules of origin is estimated at about 82% of the total tariff lines on the basis of which trade takes place in the AfCFTA market. There is a need to resolve outstanding
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Professor Daniel Mukoko Samba, in charge of the AfCFTA issue, in DR Congo - Photo credit Primature DRC-RR
issues on rules of origin by June 2021, in line with the decisions taken by the Heads of State Conference. Similarly, the outstanding negotiations on the schedules of tariff concessions should be finalized. The planned modalities for trade in goods under the AfCFTA provide for the liberalization of all trade by first eliminating tariffs on 90% of tariff lines over a specified period of time (of at least 10 years), and later on tariffs on 7% of tariff lines of products deemed sensitive to the states. The AfCFTA Secretariat has received 75% of the ta-
riff concessions submitted by member states. It is essential to get all member states and/or customs unions to submit lists of tariff concessions. Outstanding negotiations on trade in services need also to be finalized. The Committee on Trade in Services established by the Protocol on Trade in Services has started its work for the progressive liberalization of services sectors. Thirty-four (34) countries have submitted their initial offers on trade in services, as of January 31, 2021. Therefore, it is impe-
