In efforts to refine the African Continent Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA) implementation plan and ensure its effectiveness, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Business Development, with the support of UNDP held a one-day validation workshop in Maseru on Wednesday, 16 April 2025.
The workshop was also held to ensure that the AfCTA plan aligns with the country’s national development plan.
In her remarks, the Principal Secretary of the Ministry Ms. Palesa Matobako said this workshop will provide a platform to convene and provide final inputs into what will become a key national roadmap for the effective implementation of this agreement. This comes after a validation meeting on the National Implementation Strategy and Action Plan for the African Continental Free Trade Area, which initiated the first round of stakeholder consultations.
She mentioned that since then, there has been robust engagement at all institutional and individual levels, which have shaped the development of this strategy.
Meanwhile, the Senior Economic Advisor UNDP Dr. Souleman Bounkar said the AfCFTA is one of Africa’s structural transformation agendas, which is a continental forum for adopting, implementing, improving and enforcing a common set of agreed trade-to-trade related rules and norms. He indicated that the AfCTA aims to increase intra-African trade by eliminating tariffs on 90 per cent of goods, reducing trade barriers, and promoting trade facilitation across the continent.
Dr. Bounkar also revealed that UNDP will utilise instruments such as the SDG Inventor map to help mobilize private sector investment and matchmaking to create platforms for development cooperation and partnerships in key development sectors, as well as leveraging on initiatives that mobilise women and youth-led enterprises.
The AfCTA is one of Africa’s structural transformation agendas agreed on by African heads of states and aligned to the African Union (AU) golden jubilee summit of May 2013 declaration which adopted Agenda 2063.
Source: Lesotho News Agency (16/4/2025)
