The UK has Committed to Making Africa’s Landmark Trade Agreement Successful

Wamkele Mene, the Secretary-General of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) Secretariat.

AFRICAN COUNTRIES are the ones who must make their historic free trade agreement work, but having allies from other parts of the world doesn’t hurt.

On Sept. 13 in Ghana, James Duddridge, the UK’s Minister for Africa, signed a Memorandum Of Understanding with Wamkele Mene, the Secretary-General of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) Secretariat. It makes Britain’s commitment to the success of the trade bloc, which includes several former colonies, offi cial.

Duddridge said the UK was “the fi rst non-African nation to recognize the opportunities for trade and investment” proposed by the AfCFTA. Ranil Jayawardena, the UK’s Minister for International Trade said the MOU “shows our commitment to boosting bilateral trade and investment, leading to sustainable economic growth across the continent.”

The UK is remaking its Africa trade relations

European Union rules governed trade between the UK and Africa until the end of the Brexit transition

Th e UK has Committed to Making Africa’s Landmark Trade Agreement Successful

By Alexander Onukwue

period on the last day of 2020. But the UK started planning for its future with Africa 12 months earlier by inaugurating an investment summit in London that 21 African leaders attended.

Since Jan. 1 this year, the UK has fully ratifi ed

trade agreements with 14 African countries including Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt,

and Tunisia. It also has agreements with the

Eastern and Southern Africa trade bloc which includes Mauritius, Seychelles, and Zimbabwe, and with the Southern Africa Customs Union and Mozambique which includes Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, and

South Africa.

With Ghana, Kenya, and Morocco, agreements are on the road to ratifi cation but that hasn’t prevented bilateral trade. In 2020, total trade

between the UK and African countries with

which it had agreements was £17.3 billion.

It’s not a large total when compared to the UK’s trade with Japan (£24.7 billion), Canada (£17.7 billion), Singapore (£14.1 billion), and South Korea (£11.2 billion). Africa constitutes only 2.5% of the UK’s trade, with France and the US doing more business with the continent, according to a former member of a UK foreign aff airs committee.

Perhaps the signed commitment in Ghana will herald more action towards UK trade with Africa. Indeed, a lot more substance is needed to back the talks and commitments of the last 20 months.

https://qz.com/africa/2058965/the-uk-formally-commitsto-the-afcftas-success/?utm_source=email&utm_ medium=daily-brief&utm_content=035a8b53-1601-11ec8896-d2e0769c3de3&utm_campaign=HQ0921 Image credit: ghanaweb.com