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AFRICA CONTINENTAL FREE TRADE AREA
Kenya records its first exports under AfCFTA agreement pilot plan
By our News Team | 2022
Consignment of batteries to Ghana may pave the way for more deals as new pilot phase aims to kick-start slow implementation of AfCFTA.
A consignment of Kenyan batteries worth US$77,000 was recently released in Tema Port, Ghana, in a historic ceremony that marked Kenya’s first exports under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
According to a report in Freight Logistics Magazine, the quarterly publication of the Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (known as FEAFFA), the consignment of Exide batteries was made by the Associated Battery Manufactures and imported by Yesudam Company Limited, based in Ghana.
Photo by Frans van Heerden from Pexels
Kenya is among seven countries selected to participate in the pilot phase of the AfCFTA initiative on Guided Trade. This phase has been implemented because of the limited trading that has been taking place among member nations since the launch of the agreement on 1 January 2021. The other countries included in the pilot phase are Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Mauritius, Rwanda and Tanzania.
Expand trade and investment within Africa
“To fast-track implementation of the AfCFTA, the development of an implementation strategy is critical as it leverages deeper integration within the framework of AfCFTA to facilitate an expansion of Kenya’s trade and investment in Africa,” said Cabinet Secretary Betty Maina, Kenya’s Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development. She was speaking during the launch of the Kenya AfCFTA Implementation Strategy.
Freight Logistics Magazine said the launch of the Kenya AfCFTA National Implementation Strategy is one of the key action parts of the EU-funded project entitled ‘Deepening Africa’s Trade Integration through Effective Implementation of the AfCFTA to support Economic Integration’. The EU has allocated a total budget of €8-million (US$7,97-million) to the project.
The African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat unveiled its Guided Trade Initiative, which is part of efforts to initiate commercially meaningful trade under the AfCFTA, on 25 July this year.
The initiative aims to test and establish the trade, legal and environmental policy basis for intra‑African trade, and also identify companies, goods, customs procedures and logistic processes necessary for effective trade.
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