Nigeria’s delegation recently visited some strategic institutions responsible for trade facilitation in Rwanda and the Headquarters of the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, in Ghana as part of the activities to review the implementation approaches and market opportunities inherent in the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) /AfCFTA.
This was part of the Federal Government’s efforts towards commencement of trade under the AfCFTA, joining the league of eight countries including Ghana, Rwanda, Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Tanzania and Tunisia that have started trading under the GTI framework which is the pilot phase.
The Executive Secretary, National Action Committee on the AfCFTA (NAC-AfCFTA), Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, said the country’s delegation to Ghana and Rwanda aimed at sharing experience on the implementation of the GTI/AfCFTA.
The Executive Secretary, represented in the delegation to Ghana by the Senior Trade Expert/ Lead, Trade Enablement NAC-AfCFTA, Mr Olusegun Olutayo, said the tour of both countries was an avenue for knowledge sharing as Nigeria ramps up preparation to join the Initiative.
He said: “The objectives of the tour were to review the implementation approaches and market opportunities under the GTI and to gain valuable insights from strategic institutions responsible for trade facilitation, policy formulation and private sector involvement under the GTI.”
The Ghana National Coordinator of AfCFTA, Dr. Fareed K. Authur, said his country was among the first to start trading with member states like Kenya and Cameroon and has further plans to expand trading relations under the AfCFTA to countries like Egypt and Tanzania.
Dr. Fareed told Nigeria’s delegation that Ghana had learned from some challenges in the implementation of the GTI as goods majorly exported by participating MSMEs were in primary form and there was a need to enhance production capacities of the MSMEs for value-added processed products, while growing the domestic export base.
Briefing the delegation, Rwanda’s Deputy Commissioner General, DCG, of Customs, William Musoni, said Rwanda had so far exported Coffee and Tea to Ghana since October, 2022.
On challenges with trading under the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative, the DCG, noted that there was lack of enough sensitization and awareness of the initiatives as well as transport and logistics issues.
The delegation was well represented by relevant, Public and Private Sector Officials including representatives from the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment (FMITI), Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nigerian Customs Service and the UNDP.
