The African Development Bank has urged African countries to open their borders to encourage the promotion of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Lamin Barrow, Director-General of the Nigeria Country Department of the Bank said more needed to be done as it was pertinent for Africa to hasten the free trade of goods and services within the continent.
“I think we are talking about the era of the African continental free trade area. So, all the African countries really should open their borders to Africans. I think it is a paradox as we know that non-Africans can enter and move across Africa easier than our own fellow Africans.”
“I think that the minimum we can do is to equalise that opportunity. And then, of course, we go further and make it easy for any African to wake up and move across without the need for visas,” he stated.
Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Deputy Chairperson of the AU Commission, said restricting Africans’ ability to move across borders impedes trade and stifles industrialization: “It discourages innovation and stymies the formation of regional value chains. It is not enough to agree on rules of origin that promote Made in Africa products. For AfCFTA to succeed, non-tariff barriers to trade must be dismantled, too.”
Source: businesspost.ng