Africa’s private sector is set to gather in Cape Town, South Africa for the 2023 African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Business Forum, scheduled to take place from April 16-18, 2023 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). This marks the first in-person event of its kind, convened by the AfCFTA Secretariat under the patronage of His Excellency, President Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of the Republic of South Africa.
The key objectives of the event are to create awareness among Africa’s business community about the current trade and investment opportunities in AfCFTA, connect businesses to funding opportunities for AfCFTA value chains, establish a private sector engagement platform for continued consultations on private sector needs in the implementation of AfCFTA, and promote a private sector-friendly environment for Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) led by Women and Youth, to unlock more accessible and affordable trade finance opportunities.
The event aims to attract broad participation from Africa’s private sector, strategic investors, financial institutions, investment promotion agencies, business councils, chambers of commerce, multinational corporations, African women and youth business organizations, as well as Heads of States and Government, and AfCFTA Partners.
The AfCFTA Secretary-General, His Excellency Wamkele Mene, has called on Africa’s business community to partner with the Secretariat to ensure the successful implementation of the Agreement. He emphasized the importance of private sector participation in the implementation of AfCFTA, stating that “creating an integrated One African Market hinges upon effective private sector participation in the implementation of the AfCFTA.” He further added, “It is only with the business community’s full involvement that we will achieve our goal of enhancing intra-African trade, raise Africa’s trading position on the global market, and accelerate economic growth, industrialization, production, and job creation.”
The AfCFTA Business Forum aims to give momentum and accelerate the implementation of AfCFTA. Since its inception, AfCFTA has already recorded notable achievements, including the completion of Phase I and components of Phase II covering Trade in Goods, Trade in Services, the Dispute Settlement Mechanism, Investments, Competition Policy, and Intellectual Property Rights, providing numerous trade and investment opportunities for the private sector. The forthcoming Digital Trade protocol, expected to be concluded in July 2023, will establish the regulatory framework for new market opportunities in the digital economy. The protocol on Women and Youth in Trade, also expected to be concluded in July 2023, is seen as a vital instrument for achieving inclusive benefits in the AfCFTA market.
While the conference will cover various trade issues, it will specifically focus on sectors such as agro-processing, automotive, pharmaceuticals, transportation and logistics, and digital trade and payments. Critical themes and topics to be discussed at the Business Forum include accelerating AfCFTA implementation in the current geo-economic context, boosting Africa’s industrialization through value addition, promoting agriculture and agro-processing value chains, building local pharmaceutical manufacturing and intellectual property rights capacity, ensuring product integrity and traceability, expanding digital trade and interoperable payment systems, promoting automobile manufacturing and assembly, facilitating investment protection and facilitation, financing AfCFTA value-chain development, and unlocking the potential of transport and logistics for the “One African Market”.
The Business Forum comes after the Guided Trade initiative, where countries have already started trading under AfCFTA, making this an opportune time to promote business and investment in Africa. The AfCFTA Secretariat expresses gratitude to the Government and the People of South Africa for their support in hosting this first face-to-face AfCFTA Business Forum.
