South Africa ‘committed to free trade in Africa'

Fouty-four African countries signed the Kigali Protocol in Rwanda last week, but South Africa and Nigeria did not put pen to paper. 

The free trade agreement has been labelled the largest since the World Trade Organisation.

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies says although South Africa has not signed the agreement, this does not mean it will not happen in future. 

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 Davies says government is in favour of the agreement and has signed a declaration to demonstrate its commitment. 

“That is why we signed the declaration, in fact proposed the declaration. The declaration is an inclusive, unifying document that expresses the will to sign when the agreement is in a state that enables us to sign that agreement.” 

According to Davies, the AfCTA will boost intra-Africa trade and create a bigger market serving more than 1 billion people, with an estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $2.6 trillion.