The government has embarked on a sensitization campaign countrywide to create awareness amongst the business community on the opportunities offered by the African Continental Free-Trade (AfCFTA) and how to exploit the openings offered.
Industrialisation, Trade and Enterprise Development Cabinet Secretary Betty Maina said Kenya has prepared a national implementation strategy that provides a framework for the implementation of the AfCFTA to facilitate an expansion of the country’s trade and investment in Africa and support structural transformation.
She said the strategy, which is also aimed at fostering economic growth and sustainable development, is envisioned to secure markets for goods and services within the African region, and promote value addition and diversification of products in the AfCFTA markets.
“The strategy has mechanisms for creating conditions for increased participation of micro small and medium-sized enterprises, women, youth, and persons with disabilities in trade and investment in the region, “ Betty Maina.
She further added that the country is establishing a favourable business environment to attract new domestic and foreign investment, equipping micro and small enterprises to enable them to expand and improve their productivity, besides developing a mass of medium and large enterprises that can compete at the regional level.
The CS made the remarks on Tuesday in a speech read on her behalf by the Director of International Trade in the State Department of Trade and Enterprise Development Oliver Konje during the Private Sector Sensitisation Workshop on Kenya’s National African Continental Free Trade Area Implementation Strategy held at a Nairobi hotel.
The workshop aims at providing stakeholders in Kenya with the knowledge to understand and appreciate the benefits of implementing AfCFTA Kenya’s National Strategy as presented by AfCFTA in order to achieve stakeholder consensus on approaches and roles they play for the country’s implementation of AfCFTA.
She said the launching of the trade under the AfCFTA Agreement on January 1 last year with 1.2 billion people across 55 countries and a combined Gross Domestic Product of US$ 2.5 trillion and a combined consumer and business spending of more than USD4.0 trillion, provides African countries including Kenya with readily available marker for both goods and services, making it the largest free trade area globally.
“AfCTA can elevate over 30 million people out of extreme poverty while boosting the incomes of nearly 68 million others who live on less than five dollars,” Betty Maina.
She observed that by 2035 the continental trade pact will enhance Africa’s income by USD 450 billion while increasing Africa’s exports of goods and services by USD 560 billion.
AfCFTA is a flagship project of Agenda 2063 of the African Union to accelerate Intra -African Trade and boost Africa’s trading positon in the global market by strengthening Africa’s common voice and policy space in the global trade negotiations.
Read also; AfCFTA Still in the Shadows as 6 Countries Yet to Ratify the Agreement.
