The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and Quest Ghana Limited, a technology and corporate development organization, on Monday announced their joint venture initiative to co-develop Africa’s digital trade corridor.
At the signing ceremony, AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene said the digital corridor will facilitate trade, track, and seamlessly settle cross-border trade transactions on the continent in strict alignment with AfCFTA rules.
Mene stated that the continental free trade area represents the first initiative in which an entire continent is adopting an integrated approach to digital economy policy, adding that, continental free trade is gaining momentum, and Africa has started to see modest gains since real trading began in October 2022, with seven countries initially participating.
In 2024, the secretary general noted that Africa traded over 220 billion dollars in goods and services, and a large percentage of the goods traded were products manufactured on the continent.
“Value addition is taking place. This is a very positive and welcome shift so that we reduce Africa’s reliance on the export of unprocessed commodities, which are then, of course, traded back to the continent of Africa at much, much higher rates,” Mene noted.
He said, since the continent’s digital economy is projected to reach 712 billion U.S. dollars by 2035, AfCFTA has “undertaken a number of initiatives to leverage, harness, and nurture the potential of Africa’s digital economy.”
According to him, Africa now needs to develop its digital trade, drive economic transformation through inclusivity on the continent, with opportunities for young people, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as informal or smallholder farmers who will be able to deploy digital technologies to access markets.
Moreover, Mene remarked that although individual countries may have their own digital economy policies, the AfCFTA’s digital trade policy for Africa is novel, as it is the first time a continent is adopting an integrated approach to such a policy. “So we’re moving from policy, from talk to action.”
“The AFCFTA trade corridor will facilitate and ensure that we are able to track cross-border trade transactions in compliance with the rules of the AfCFTA and help to create a more connected and efficient digital environment through which our companies, our SMEs, and our private sector are able to participate in this digital infrastructure,” the secretary-general added. Enditem