The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and N Gage Consulting signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance implementation of the AfCFTA within Africa, with a focus on North Africa and Arabic speaking countries as well as harness the potential of the AfCFTA through targeted outreach towards positive impact in Africa.
The MoU was sealed by the AfCFTA Secretary General, H.E. Mr. Wamkele Mene and by Mr. Karim Refaat, Chairman of N Gage Consulting and Dr. Sherif Fahmy, CEO.
The AfCFTA was established as an effort to eliminate trade barriers among African countries with the aim of creating a single market size of 1.3 billion people with a combined annual GDP of $3.4 trillion. As the largest free trade area in the world, the AfCFTA is expected to increase intra-African trade and promote regional economic integration of Africa and, as a result, contribute to the sustainable economic and social development of the continent through the creation of employment opportunities and the reduction of poverty.
Pursuant to the MoU, the two parties commit to strengthen cooperation and promote concrete activities in areas of conducting webinars, tailor effective roundtable sessions, public-private dialogues and to develop a series of monthly newsletters to disseminate relevant information through social media platforms with the aim of raising awareness of business and governments on the AfCFTA, its objectives and showcasing AfCFTA’s Guided Trade Initiative and its role in powering trade among members states.
Additionally, the collaboration will facilitate the preparation for the AfCFTA Business Forum and The Intra African Trade Fair (IATF) and the execution of different capacity building programs for the member states in order to leverage the AfCFTA to boost intra-African trade and utilise Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects to support investment in infrastructure.
The MoU is expected to promote the AfCFTA as a trade liberalisation instrument and sustainable development enabler and accelerator as well as enhance intra-African trade as an engine for economic diversification and industrialisation.
As one of the leading companies operating in the area of government relations and public policy in the Middle East and North Africa region, N Gage Consulting is committed to support the AfCFTA and will deploy all the necessary resources to strengthening and expanding cooperation with the AfCFTA Secretariat to enhance African trade integration.