Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the progress made by the African Union in delivering the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The UK welcomes the commencement of trading under the terms of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement on January 1st 2021, and the potential that the AfCFTA offers to significantly boost intra-African trade once it is fully implemented.
The UK has supported the AfCFTA negotiations directly through our African Union Support Programme, providing targeted technical assistance to negotiators.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
Trading under Phase I of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which began on 1st January 2021, marks a key turning point in African economic integration. It will reduce barriers to intra-African trade and diminish the complexity and costs of operating across African countries for British businesses. It should lift millions out of poverty too, and drive industrialisation on the continent.
To fully realise its benefits, the ongoing Phase II negotiations must be successfully concluded, and the agreement fully implemented. The United Kingdom has supported AfCFTA negotiations with targeted technical assistance and my Hon. Friend, the Minister for Africa (James Duddridge), recently expressed our support for AfCFTA to its Secretary-General.