Malawi government is optimistic that it will start trading under African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) between October and December this year.

Director of Trade in Goods in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Charity Musonzo has made the revelation today during AfCFTA/GIZ Mission engagement with Private Sector Representatives in Blantyre.

According to Msonzo, the ministry is finalizing all the required processes before it starts being part of the countries making use of the arrangement.

Officially signed by member states on March 14, 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda, AfCFTA aims at boosting intra-African trade by providing a platform for African countries to trade more freely with each other, among other benefits.

“This mission has come to assess Malawi’s readiness for the initiative but there are other processes that need to be fulfilled. Once we complete them, we will call ourselves ready,” she said.

During the engagement, industry players expressed fear that they may not be able to participate in the AfCFTA but Musonzo says government will make use of unique goods that some companies produce so they get dominance on the continental market.

In her remarks, Dr. Diana Akullo Ogwal who led the AfCFTA team, said at least 37 African countries are signaling their commitment towards the trading regime.

“Since the agreement was signed in 2018, there had not been any significant trading happening until 2022 when Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) was launched to kickstart trading and since then, members expressing interest have increased,” she explained.

Apart from engagement the stakeholders, the AfCFTA/GTI team is also inspecting various companies to see their level of readiness for the market.

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